Late World War II veteran honored with Purple Heart in BG ceremony
Published 2:43 pm Tuesday, November 12, 2024
U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie (left) presents a posthumous Purple Heart to Jimmie Teasley (center) and Marion Teasley, Jr. at American Legion Post 23 in Bowling Green on Monday. The Teasley brothers’ father, Marion Otto Teasley, was honored on Monday for his service in World War Two, where he fought in the Battle of The Bugle.
U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Bowling Green) speaks with members of the Samuel Davies Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution at American Legion Post 23 in Bowling Green on Monday. Guthrie was at the post to present a posthumous Purple Heart to the family of Sgt. Marion Otto Teasley, a veteran of World War Two who fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
Jennifer Odle (left) of the Butler County Piecemakers presents a handmade quilt to veteran Donald Basham at American Legion Post 23 in Bowling Green on Monday, during a Veterans Day ceremony marked by the presentation of a posthumous Purple Heart from U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Bowling Green) to family Members of World War Two veteran Marlon Otto Teasley.
Bowling Green Mayor Todd Alcott (left) and Bowling Green city commissioner Melinda Hill watch as U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Bowling Green) presents a posthumous Purple Heart to the family of Sgt. Marlon Otto Teasley at American Legion Post 23 in Bowling Green on Monday.
U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Bowling Green) speaks on the importance of military service at American Legion Post 23 in Bowling Green on Monday. Guthrie was at the post to present a posthumous Purple Heart to the family of Sgt. Marion Otto Teasley, a veteran of World War Two who fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
By JUSTIN STORY
justin.story@bgdailynews.com
When he recounted his military service to his family, Army Sgt. Marion O. Teasley Sr. was free with his recollections of his times in combat, but he was not one to stand on ceremony.
Teasley was a veteran of World War II, a fighter in the 83rd Infantry Division who took part in the Battle of the Bulge, a pivotal skirmish between Allied and German forces in Belgium during the winter of 1944-45 that forced Nazi fighters into retreat.
Teasley, an Owensboro native who died in 2000, developed severe frostbite in both feet that required him to be hospitalized, an injury for which he was recognized posthumously on Monday with the awarding of the Purple Heart to his surviving family.
The honor, bestowed to U.S. military members killed or wounded in service, was presented to the family during a ceremony Monday at American Legion Post 23 by U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, whose office worked to obtain the medal.
“My dad said the reason why he was over there was not for medals, it was to go home to his family, and that’s why he was my hero,” said Teasley’s son, Jimmie Teasley on Monday. “He was with us every step of the way.”
Jimmie Teasley said his father was inducted into the Army in 1942 at Fort Knox, and the time he spent stateside was involved in training troops and working as a military policeman at a number of Army bases, before he was shipped overseas in 1944.
A decorated shadow box containing the medals and patches Marion Teasley earned during his service sat on a table at the American Legion Hall beside a black-and-white picture of him smiling while crouched in a field in full uniform.
Jimmie Teasley said he was spurred by his daughter to apply for a Purple Heart for his late father at the start of last year.
The Battle of the Bulge is recognized as the largest and deadliest battle fought by the U.S. during World War II, with an official Army count reporting 19,246 dead and more than 80,000 American casualties, while the Germans suffered an estimated 120,000 casualties on what was their last major offensive of the war.
Jimmie Teasley said he still remembers his father outlining the oppressive conditions soldiers found themselves in during the battle.
“The temperature was minus-28 degrees, there were 10-foot snowdrifts, it rained ice all the time and if the ground wasn’t stone hard, it was muddy,” Teasley said.
Marion Teasley’s surviving family gathered the necessary paperwork to submit to Fort Knox for a Purple Heart, but Jimmie Teasley said it was intervention by Guthrie’s staff that helped secure the honor.
“We would not be here today, we wouldn’t have this country we have if the men and women across this country throughout time had not been willing to sacrifice their life,” Guthrie said during Monday’s event. “Whether you were blessed to serve in peacetime or if you did go to foreign fields and put yourself in danger, it’s absolutely important that we stop today to say thank you.”
