Léo Major

Private Leo Major, the kid from Montreal who became a sniper, a scout -- and a legend -- with the Regiment de la Chaudiere. You can get details from just about any schoolkid in Zwolle where Mr. Major is as big a celebrity as there is this side of royalty and rap stars. What's not to honour? Leo Major, a French-Canadian lost an eye during the Normany invasion, but refused to be evacuated back to England. In the Battle of the Scheldt, he captured 93 Germans, but he refused on principle to accept the decoration offered. Montgomery, the British Field-Marshal, was going to personally present it to him. However, Major thought Montgomery was militarily incompetent, so refused it. Incredible as that sounds, his story does not end there. With a friend, Willy Arsenault, he scouted out the German positions in the town of Zwolle. When Arsenault was cut down by machine gun fire, an infuriated Major rushed the gunners, killing two and putting to flight the rest. When he reached Zwolle, he attacked German patrols and ran through the street tossing grenades into empty buildings to give the impression of a large attack. When he stumbled into the SS headquarters by mistake, he killed four of them, while the rest ran away. By four in the morning, Mr. Major realized the Germans had fled the town. He had liberated it. This time he did accept The Distinguished Conduct medal--second only to the Victoria Cross in merit, and one of only three awarded to British Commonwealth troops during the entire war. He went on to collect a second DCM, when he led his company in capturing an enemy hill in Korea. What is even more incredible is that even after he loose an eye shortly after D-Day and he continue to fight, he was severely injured when the truck where he and sereral other canadian soldiers where sitting hit a tank Mine. Leo Major got a broken back (several vertebra where broken). He was going to be sent back to Canada but he refused and run away from the hospital to go back to his combat unit so he could continue to fight. Also when he capture the hill in Korea, one of his man was hit and unconscious. Leo Major carry him on his shoulder without considering that he was still had is back injured. After that he was sent back to Canada to get surgery. Quite a guy! A true hero. And at 84, he said with a smile "No american soldier ever liberated a town". File:Major3.jpg File:Dcm-comp.gif File:Certificat2.jpg