Almost 70 years to the day after his last combat mission in World War II, J. Pat Hume was honored by the government of France for his contributions in liberating the country.

On March 22, Hume was presented with the Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur (The National Order of the Legion of Honour or simply The Legion of Honour), France’s highest honor, by Montana’s honorary consul to France.

Hume, 99, flew 66 sorties as a gunner in a Douglas A-20 Havoc bomber over occupied France and Germany as a member of the U.S. Army Air Forces.

His daughter, Karon Stiles, told the story of her ailing father.

“Mom and dad were both graduates of Flathead County High School and when they got married moved up to a logging cabin near Fortine, up Meadow Creek,” she said. “Dad joined the Army Air Force and was shipped to the south.”

Hume was stationed in Florence, South Carolina, and ultimately graduated from air gunnery school in Fort Myers, Florida. He was shipped to Braintree, England, with the 9th Air Force, 410th Bomber Group, 647th Bomb Squadron.

The A-20 Havoc was designed as an attack and light bomber that specialized in night attacks. All of Hume’s 66 missions were carried out between the hours of midnight and 4 a.m.

On Dec. 2, 1944, during a night mission at 10,000 feet over Nazi Germany, a spotlight trained on Hume’s A-20, the “Joker.” Anti-aircraft fire damaged the Joker’s fuel line and pilot and 1st Lt. Henry Klacksin turned the plane in a tight 180-degree turn back toward friendly lines.

Only after the navigator confirmed they were in Allied territory and the plane had descended to 2,500 feet did they bail from the plane.

“Dad was the first to jump, and after he left the door his mittens and hat went flying so the next guy thought he had crashed into the tail of the plane and been killed,” Stiles said. “He went drifting down with his parachute and saw a French cemetery with big spiky headstones and thought he was going to be impaled. He missed it, but not by much.”

All four men escaped the plane, joining the “Caterpillar Club,” an association of people who have jumped from a disabled plane.

The plane crashed into a nearby field just West of Bray-sur-Seine, France.

“My father met a French person who took him to a man who had studied pharmacy in the United States,” Stiles said. “Because he spoke English, he was able to help locate the rest of dad’s crew.”

After the shaken-up airmen got back to England, the squadron was relocated to Coulommiers, France. They moved from there to Riems, 80 miles East of Paris, where they finished the war.

The bail-out was the only real problem Hume’s crew ran into overseas. He flew his 66th sortie (enough to send him home) on April 18, 1945. His first sortie was July 5, 1944. 

Hume earned nine Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters for his service, along with a Germany Theater Ribbon. The best award he received, however, was the blessing of a Flathead County judge to become an American citizen. Hume was born in Colinton, Alberta.

The Legion of Honour was a surprise for the Hume family after a local veteran heard about the award. While typically reserved for French citizens, the criteria were opened for U.S. veterans who “have served France or the ideals it upholds.” World War II veterans were eligible if they took part in the liberation of Normandy, Provence/Southern France or Northern France.

Hume earned the rank of Knight (or rather, Chevalier) of the Legion of Honour, one of the greatest honors France can bestow on any person foreign or French.

To present the award, Hamilton resident and French native Laurence Markarian drove up to the Eureka VFW on behalf of her home country.

“The response for me is always amazing,” she said. “We go to these little towns and they are always so grateful. I was in Glasgow in October and it was the same there.”

Markarian presented the award on behalf of a grateful nation and Hume was surrounded by family, friends, church members and fellow veterans.

“The award was created in 1802 by Napoleon,” she said. “It used to be only for military personnel, but over the last 50 years it has expanded. It’s a huge achievement no matter what.”

The Legion of Honour’s badge is a five-pronged “Maltese asterisk” ringed with an oak leaf wreath. The badge is connected with a laurel crown to the plain red ribbon. 

The badge is stamped with the face of Marianne, France’s equivalent to Uncle Sam, and the words “République Française” and the order’s motto “Honneur et Patrie,” or Honor and Fatherland.

Markarian was born in Bourges in central France but has lived for more than 20 years in Montana. When not running a French bistro in Hamilton, she arranges D-Day veteran trips to Normandy or presents Legion of Honour awards as the official consul to Montana from France. She has given the medal to eight Montana veterans.

“These veterans are getting quite old, you know,” she said. “So this is a program that I really cherish.”

After returning from Europe, Hume got into the logging industry and then was a welder on Libby Dam and several projects in Alaska. 

He became commander of the Eureka VFW on two separate occasions and district commander once, passing legislation to allow Northwest Montana veterans to go to Spokane rather than Fort Harrison if they so chose.

He taught first aid and hunter safety classes for many years in the Eureka/Fortine area. Much of his wartime paraphernalia was lost when the house in Fortine burned to the ground. After buying an old army cot, Hume became an amateur ambulance driver. 

“Mom and dad had one of maybe three phones in Fortine,” Stiles said. “So whenever there was an accident, they’d call home and dad would rush out in his truck to pick the person up and rush them to Whitefish.” 

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.