Arlington Heights veteran, 99, awarded French Legion of Honour

The awards continue for James P. Ostler some 75 years after returning home from World War II.

The 99-year-old Arlington Heights man who has already received the American Distinguished Flying Cross and the British Distinguished Flying Cross was honored again Thursday, this time with the French Legion of Honour.

"What you did sir, as part of America's greatest generation, for us is a debt that we owe you ... and a debt that we cannot repay," said Hon. Guillaume Lacroix, Consul General of France to the Midwest. Lacroix presented the award during a ceremony at American Legion Post 208 in Arlington Heights in a packed room with more than 150 people.

Ostler was a B-17 navigator. Among his many missions was one to test a new radar-jamming technology that was used to great success and is credited with saving countless lives on D-Day. During testing, his plane lost an engine -- but knowing the importance of their charge, Ostler and the crew continued flying and finished the mission.

The French government was moved to honor Ostler after his daughter, Kathy Ostler Carmean, read a story about a Batavia man who was similarly honored a few years ago. She reached out to the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs, which contacted the French.

Ostler downplayed his heroics in a recent Daily Herald interview. "There must be hundreds of others whose records must be similar," he said of the deeds that merited the honor.

Raymond Ostler put his father's life and his role in World War II into perspective: "Today, the only invasion that concerns him is when his 12 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren come to visit."