DAVENPORT, Iowa-- A 95-year-old veteran was honored Wednesday, June 5 by the Davenport City Council.
Council members proclaimed the day to be Mr. Henry Langrehr Day. At 19-years-old Langrehr parachuted out of a plane over Normandy and was one of six men to survive the battle.
Langrehr was then captured by the Germans and was imprisoned in the Auschwitz concentration camp and a work camp behind enemy lines. Eventually, he escaped and found an ally to help him return home almost a year later.
After going home to Clinton, Iowa, Langrehr married his sweetheart, then started a business and a family. Despite this, he says it's the servicemen who didn't make it home who are the true heroes.
"I was one of a few, and what I did was very little compared to my friends who didn't make it home," he says. "They didn't have a story to tell. They are resting in France. They are the ones that gave it all. I gave a little. They gave it all."
Langrehr will be speaking at the Rock Island Arsenal Thursday, June 6 on the 75 year anniversary of D-Day.
