Minnesota World War II POW receives Congressional Gold Medal as remains finally returned home
A Minnesota prisoner of war's remains have made it home after decades.
The long journey from a marked common grave with other POWs in the Philippines to home soil in Minnesota came to an end for Pvt. Wallace Goodrich.
"Pvt. Goodrich endured some of the worst atrocities humanity can ever imagine and he gave his life doing that; that's one of the reasons we honor him and all the soldiers of Bataan," Maj. Gen. Gerald Lang said.
Goodrich was a member of the 194th Tank Battalion out of Brainerd, Minnesota. They fought America's first land battle of World War II, the Battle of Bataan, holding off the invading Japanese Army for four months following the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor.
"The story needs to be told; it's a story that's not being taught in schools and these ceremonies explain why we are a great nation," Maj. Sonny Busa said.
Family and present and former members of the 194th gathered to honor Goodrich, as the government presented him with the Congressional Gold Medal.
Wearing the same uniform Goodrich would have worn when he made the ultimate sacrifice, Busa explains why it's important to honor America's heroes.
"Why people like Pvt. Wallace Goodrich, a teenager, goes to the Philippines, to a country he never heard of, to a people he never heard about and he sacrifices everything for them," Busa said.
After a 21-gun salute and taps, the American flag was prepared and given to Goodrich's nephew, 88-year-old Dale "Duke" Bourgeois.
"Closure, pride," Bourgeois said.
His uncle held him before he went off to war.
"I was three days old, so I don't remember. He held me up in the air; he named me. He said, 'You are the Duke of Medfield,' and I didn't get my name, Dale, until 30 days after," Bourgeois said.
Bourgeois chose to have his uncle's remains return home instead of Arlington National Cemetery.
Since 1776, only 184 Congressional Gold Medals have been awarded. Goodrich is one of five medal recipients from Brainerd.
