MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. -- World War II veteran, Sgt. Robert B. O’Reilly received two medals Sunday at Miramar’s Flying Leatherneck Historical Foundation and Aviation Museum.
The 83-year-old resident of El Cajon, Calif., earned the Distinguished Flying Cross with one gold star in lieu of second award and an Air Medal with gold stars for the first through seventh awards for acts of heroism and bravery during World War II.
“I was a turret gunner on a torpedo bomber,” said O’Reilly, referring to his time flying in the TBF-1 Avenger, an old prop plane with Marine Torpedo Bombing Squadron 242, now Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 242. “I flew on more than 50 missions in the South Pacific.”
Although the Marine Corps presented him with awards he achieved more than 62 years ago, O’Reilly, having served from 1942 to 1945, said he still felt honored.
“I knew I was going to get this, but I should have applied for the awards a long time ago,” said O’Reilly, a retired security guard and former Chicago police officer. “It was my fault it took so long. The Marine Corps acted promptly and issued the medals within two months. I feel terrific. I feel honored. I didn’t expect all of this.”
When speaking of his experiences with guests before the ceremony, O’Reilly explained how people in the World War II era had the patriotism much like the men and women of America do today.
“It’s definitely something to be proud of,” he said. “When we were attacked by the Japanese on December seventh, I was on my way to church, and a gentleman told us that Pearl Harbor had been attacked. I had never heard of Pearl Harbor until they bombed it, but I did feel like many other people. We had to go to war. We had to defend our country. So for my last year of high school, I joined the military.”
O’Reilly went on to train at El Centro, Calif., before being deployed to the South Pacific in February 1944. After his military duty, O’Reilly served as a police officer in Chicago for 21 years while he and his wife, Deleurs, raised a family of five children.
He then moved to El Cajon, Calif., and worked as a security guard until he retired in the late 1990s. O’Reilly now has 15 grandchildren, whom he credits with inspiring him to have the ceremony.
“I did this for them,” he said. “I thought they would be proud to know their grandfather got some medals. Having my family here today was an honor.”
Although many guests were proud to witness O’Reilly’s recognition, the ceremony served as a reminder to the old war veteran of his son, a fellow Marine.
“I’ll be thinking of my son, Tim,” O’Reilly said. “I was a Marine, so he was a Marine. After five weeks into Vietnam, he was killed in a mortar attack. In a way, I blame myself.”
After his son’s death May 12, 1969, O’Reilly didn’t believe he deserved any medals, and it wasn’t until more than 30 years later that his other three sons — Tom, Terry and Tony — persuaded him to apply for his medals to show his grandchildren another part of their grandfather’s life.
“Awards from the Marine Corps are earned and never freely given out,” said Col. Christopher E. O’Connor, the commanding officer of the air station, who presented the medals to O’Reilly.