Federal Way resident Frank Vetere is a great-grandfather, a former owner of a hardware store, a 91-year-old writer  and now he is a knight.

Vetere was honored by a historic European organization on April 11 for his service in the U.S. Army during World War II. Known as the National Order of the Legion of Honor, the organization was established by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in order to recognize both military and civil accomplishments.

Jack Cowan, the Honorary Consul of France in the state of Washington, presented the medal to Vetere on April 11 in front of other veterans of the Battle of the Bulge at a luncheon in Tacoma.

“France tries to recognize as many veterans as possible,” Cowan said. “The Legion of Honor is the highest medal that France can offer and it’s a way of appreciating the veterans.”

The medal is not just a recognition of Vetere’s valor, but also a solemn reminder of war, said Washington state veterans of the Battle of the Bulge chapter leader Beth Pennock.

“If you don’t know your history, you’re bound to repeat it,” Pennock said. “ And I think that it’s a legacy that has a big risk of being lost.”

Vetere shares Pennock’s sentiments. WWII has been a defining moment in American history, yet a lot of its significance is quickly becoming more obscure to millennials, whose struggles are different from the times of bomb shelters and ration coupons, said Vetere.

“We’re a strange group. We’re disappearing fast,” Vetere said. “It’s strange, because people don’t remember. Most of society doesn’t know what went on in the war. I feel like no one has taught them. There’s just no information.”

Since 2013, Vetere is, in addition to being a veteran, also a published author. He has written a book called “Self-Reliance: Old People Know Stuff,” which is a compilation of candid stories about his early days as an American soldier.

“Older people can survive better because we know how to deal with not having,” Vetere said.

One of the driving forces behind his writing projects is thanks to his desire to bestow the wisdom of self-reliance to his grandchildren. Vetere said that he has so far 60 to 70 short stories saved on his computer that he wants to use for a memoir.

“I’m just saving them for my grandkids,” said Vetere.

Although a U.S. citizen, Vetere was awarded the knighthood for fighting in war campaigns in Northern France, most notably during the Battle of the Bulge.

Vetere was one of the many 18-year-olds who was fresh out of high school when he was drafted.

He had heard of the Pearl Harbor bombing before his parents did.

“I was doing homework on the dining room table on Dec. 7, 1941,” Vetere said. “My father and mother came home from a visit, this was 5 o’clock in the afternoon, and I said, ‘Dad, Pearl Harbor was attacked. We’re at war.’ And he just sat there in the chair and cried, because he knew that I was gonna go eventually … That was sad.”

By Feb. 23, 1943, Vetere packed his belongings and headed to Texas, where he was to train to become a bridge-building combat engineer.

“I was drafted, and I left on a train, with my mother and father standing there on my mother’s birthday,” Vetere said. “Now can you imagine what your mother would do?”

Upon completion of training, Vetere travelled to the beach of Utah, France in July 24, 1944. From Utah Beach, he moved sequentially to Belgium, Holland, Germany and Luxembourg.

The Battle of the Bulge lasted from Dec. 16, 1944 to Jan. 25, 1945. Among the Allied Forces, Americans bore the brunt of the German attacks. Approximately 19,000 U.S. soldiers died, 47,500 were wounded, and more than 23,000 were missing. The British incurred 1,400 casualties and 200 deaths, according to a news article published by the Department of Defense.

At the Battle of the Bulge, Vetere served as a battalion dispatcher, keeping record of 118 trucks that held pontoons, which would be used to build impromptu bridges over rivers such as the Roer, Rhine, Weser and Elbe.

There was a barrage of constant bombing during the battle.

“Artillery fire from the shoreline to all the way back for two miles, I mean you cleared out everything,” he said.

Vetere later redeployed to the South Pacific. Once the war ended, he was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army in 1945, in Camp Grant, Illinois.

Nearly 70 years later, he stood in front of his peers as Cowan honored him for his service.

“Frank Vetere, you are a hero, serving your country, you helped to liberate France,” Cowan said. “Seventy years later, on behalf of the nation of France, I pay you tribute and express to you our undying gratitude.”