WAR MEDALS HONOR AN AREA HERO

The touching story of the Kanell family's war medals and how they found their way last week to the Missouri History Museum at the Jefferson Memorial in St. Louis is one that every American should know. It begins with a young soldier giving his life for his comrades, a family caring for the prestigious medals for decades and, finally, a surviving son giving them up so that the nation would know of his fallen brother.

It was on On Sept. 7, 1951, near Pyongyang, North Korea, that Billie G. Kanell of Poplar Bluff threw himself on live grenades to save his comrades during a firefight. For those actions his family was presented with the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Purple Heart, awarded posthumously to Kanell. For 40 years his mother, the late Iva Kanell, kept those medals close to her.

Robert Kanell, now of Cape Girardeau, was only 3 months old when his oldest brother died in that foxhole. He never thought much about Billie's sacrifice until he served in Vietnam in 1972. There he came to realize the that his brother had given the ultimate sacrifice.

Now the younger brother has donated the medals to the museum, saying it will offer peace of mind. Doing so will assure that Billie's heroic act won't soon be forgotten.