Oak Ridge vet receives Bronze Star 70 years after World War II

 

Seventy years after he fought in France during World War II, an Oak Ridge veteran has been awarded the Bronze Star.

Melvin E. Kallio, 92, fought in Colmar Pocket. He was a machine gunner in the 12th Armored Division, and he and other soldiers had been ready to fight at the Battle of the Bulge.

But they wound up fighting against what they initially heard were draftees, part of a German “breakthrough” south of the Battle of the Bulge. The enemy turned out to be tougher and more fierce than draftees.

“They were crack SS troopers, and they were all over us,” said Kallio, who received the Bronze Star during a Monday afternoon ceremony at Brookdale Oak Ridge. “There was hell to pay before the tide turned.”

Many men didn’t make it, and some were taken prisoner, Kallio said. He escaped from being taken as a prisoner of war, got in a trench to avoid enemy fire, and remembers the sky was dark and red.

“We were hit hard,” said Kallio, who was then a private first class.

The Bronze Star Medal was awarded in a ceremony organized with help from the Rev. Craig Kallio of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Oak Ridge (one of Melvin Kallio’s two sons) and U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann. It recognizes Kallio’s “meritorious achievement in active ground combat against the enemy on 2 February 1945, while serving with Headquarters Company, 17th Armored Infantry Battalion, 12th Armored Division, in support of the Hellcat Division’s drive through the Rhineland.”

“It’s overwhelming, and I just can’t believe it’s happening,” Kallio said Monday when he received the medal, pointing out that he had kissed the ground when he arrived home in the United States.

Kallio, who was in his late teens and early 20s during the war, also received a Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal, and a World War II Victory Medal.

“This was a generation that stood up against fascism,” said Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican whose district includes Oak Ridge. “The men and women of this generation stood up and won. Our country needs to thank all of our vets.”

Kallio’s grandson Eric Kallio, who has received a Bronze Star of his own, pinned the Bronze Star on Melvin.

Eric Kallio, a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army, received his Bronze Star in Iraq in 2008. He said his Blackhawk took fire that damaged the tail rotor in Basra. The crew was able to finish the mission, repair the helicopter within 24 hours, and fly a mission the next night, Eric Kallio said.

Jules Doux, a military veterans affairs case worker for Fleischmann, said Melvin’s medals were awarded after an inquiry that started with Craig Kallio, who was pursuing a French Legion of Honour. Doux submitted inquiries to the U.S. Department of Army and National Personnel Records Center, and after records and combat history were researched, the request was sent to Fort Knox.

It’s unusual to award a Bronze Star 70 years later, Doux said, but there have been quite a few.

Doux said this is the third Bronze Star that Fleischmann has helped award in about the past year. The congressman has also helped award a few Purple Hearts, Doux said.