WWII air gunner from Montpelier gets France's top honor

(AP) — When James Facos was squeezed into the ball turret of a B-17 Flying Fortress, using the two 50-caliber machine guns on either side of him to soften up German air defenses to let his plane drop its payload of bombs, he wasn't looking to get into the good graces of the French.

[...] since 2004, which was the 60th anniversary of D-Day, the French have awarded it to U.S. veterans who gave distinguished service defending France against Nazi Germany in World War II.

In a letter notifying Facos that he had been selected for the honor, Valery Freland, France's consul general in Boston, wrote that the award "is a sign of France's infinite gratitude and appreciation for your personal and precious contribution to the United States' decisive role in the liberation of our country in World War II."

The ball turret hung from the B-17's s underbelly, without enough room in the spinning, tilting sphere for a parachute.

Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1924 to a Greek immigrant father and Irish mother and raised in Springfield, Facos worked as a bookkeeper for a time after the war and later got a bachelor's and master's degree.