Penobscot receives Legion of Honor medal

Penobscot Indian elder to receive France's highest honor for his service in World War IIThe attention Monday from media and other Penobscot Nation members was almost more than World War II veteran Charles Shay could handle.

"I’ll be glad when all this is over," he said modestly while waiting in his living room on Indian Island for the arrival of Francois Gauthier, consul general of France in Boston.

Gauthier traveled to Maine on Monday to accompany Shay to Washington, D.C., where today he is to receive the Legion of Honor medal, France’s highest military and civil recognition.

"He’s a courageous soldier," Gauthier said of Shay. "Because he participated in liberating my country, we think we owe him a special recognition."