James Keleshian, age 90, of Broomall, PA on February 26, 2013
He was a service writer for Videon Chevrolet in Newtown Square for 21 years. He worked for General Motors truck and coach division as a mechanic for over 35 years in Philadelphia. He also worked for Crest Chevrolet in Drexel Hill. He was a veteran of WW II serving in the US Army Air Corps. He was a member of the American Legion. He graduated from Overbrook High School . He was a member of St. Gregory The Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Church in Philadelphia for 63 years. Beloved Husband of the late Rose N. (nee Arakelian) who died June 13, 2010. Devoted father of Gloria R. Keleshian and Janice M. Keleshian, Brother in Law of Varkis Arakelian. In lieu of flowers memorial gifts may be sent St. Gregory the Illuminator Church 8701 Ridge Avenue , Philadelphia, PA. 19128 Interment: Arlington Cemetery , Drexel Hill, PA.

BROOMALL  MAN  AWARDED  FRANCE’S  HIGHEST  MILITARY  DECORATION

Published in the Delaware County Daily Times  3/4/2012 

Before he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in the fall of 1942, the farthest 20-year-old James Keleshian had traveled from home was the Jersey Shore. By the time he was honorably discharged in the fall of 1945, the West Philadelphia native had criss-crossed the United States, pit stopped in Brazil, strolled the streets of Casablanca and taken in the sights of Italy, Germany, France, Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Yugoslavia through the bomb bay doors of his B-24 Liberator.

“I had never been away from home before,” said Keleshian, an aerial engineer and waist gunner who flew 50 combat missions during World War II. “I liked it. I got to travel the world and see places I never would have seen. “It was great as long as they weren’t shooting at you.”

For his service, Keleshian, who has lived in the 200 block of Warren Boulevard in Broomall for more than 55 years, received the European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with four bronze stars, Good Conduct Medal, Air Medal with two bronze and one silver cluster, and two Presidential Unit Citations.

The 89-year-old’s most recent commendation came last month at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., where he and 23 other American World War II veterans who fought in France were presented with the Legion of Honor Medal.

“We all have what we call in French a devoir de mémoire — a duty of memory,” Olivier Serot-Alméras, consul general of France, said during the Feb. 15 ceremony. “Dear American veterans, the achievements of your military career and your personal contributions to the liberation of France are examples of what an individual can do as a soldier, with the highest values of courage, sense of duty and sacrifice for the strong and enduring relationship between America and France.” Established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, the Legion of Honor Medal is the country’s highest decoration. It is presented to military personnel and civilians for their service to France.

“They were thanking us for helping them get their country back,” said Keleshian, who attended Overbrook High School and was working as a mechanic for General Motors when he decided to enlist in the Air Corps. “It felt good because I was deserving of it. I think they realized what we all went through.”

The medal, which hangs from a red ribbon, features a cross of five arms coated in white enamel that surround the head of “Marianne,” a national symbol of the republic. After finding out her father was eligible for the distinction through the 450th Bombardment Group’s monthly newsletter, Keleshian’s daughter went to work to make sure he was recognized. “It started with a phone call or email to someone in Chicago who told me we had to contact our local (consulate) in Philadelphia,” Janice Keleshian said. “When I called Philadelphia, they said, ‘No, you have to go through the embassy in Washington, D.C.’ “It took almost two years of back-and-forth phone calls and letter writing before they said, ‘Yes, he is eligible’ and gave me the information on the ceremony.”

It was a memorable and moving day. “I am proud of my father and I was determined to make sure he was honored,” Janice Keleshian said. “It was a beautiful ceremony with hors d’oeuvres and champagne. It was worth it just to see the look on all the vets’ faces. They were so thrilled and happy to get this medal. I could tell by looking at my father how happy he was.” A staff sergeant with the 723rd Squadron of the 450th B.G., Keleshian was stationed in Manduria, a town on the southern coast populated with small rocky farms, vineyards and olive groves. “They were really friendly over there,” Keleshian said. “People would come to the gate and sell fresh eggs. We had powdered eggs in the Army and we would trade one pack of cigarettes for two eggs or six packs for a dozen.”

The 723rd flew 50 missions between Jan. 8 and May 27, 1944. Though every member of Keleshian’s crew made it home alive, their bombing runs were far from uneventful. “It was nerve-wracking, really,” Keleshian said. “I remember my first mission looking out the window and seeing the flashes (of artillery fire) on the ground and the black flashes exploding n the air. “You would duck behind your guns,”  In his war diary, the tail gunner on Keleshian’s B-24, Staff Sgt. Vernon D. Hasley, detailed each of the missions, including a deadly day above the Ploesti oil fields in Romania April 5, 1944.

“We were supposed to have two groups of P-38s meet us at the target and escort us back, but they showed up after the battle was over,” Hasley wrote. “The fighters, FW-190s, about 50 of them, attacked us for 32 minutes before, during and after the target. “The first attack was about 27 FW-190s from high to head on. The first pass, they knocked down three B-24s out of our high right squadron. One of the old crews out of our squadron was lost. Three crews were lost out of one of our other squadrons, and another bomb group operating out of our field lost six ships out of one squadron. Another one out of that bomb group cracked up on take off and exploded, and only one man miraculously escaped. The rest were blown to bits. “The flak over the target was very heavy, accurate and intense, but we didn’t notice it, for we were too busy with the fighters.”

It was during that mission Keleshian shot down his first Nazi fighter plane.A vital part of Hitler’s oil supply, the skies above Ploesti were exceptionally dangerous. During that same month, another Delco veteran and member of the 450th, Bill Fili, was shot down over Ploesti. He would spend five months as a prisoner of war in Bucharest before being rescued by fellow servicemen. Keleshian recalled another raid where the bombardier on his crew was hit by shrapnel. “We were taking heavy flak and he got hit in the shoulder,” he said. “We lost all electric and hydraulic power and had to crank the landing gear down by hand.

“We had enough (fluid) to apply the brakes once and that was just enough to stop.” Keleshian’s B-24, named the Tung Hoy, came to rest 50 feet shy of the end of the runway. The bomber was riddled with bullet holes and soaked in red hydraulic fluid.

According to Hasley’s diary, two of the 723rd’s three missions to France were cut short — one by weather, the other due to a blown engine. The third run, where they took out a railroad yard in the coastal city of Marseille, was significant because it marked the 50th and final mission for most of the crew. “In our operations room, there was a big chart with 50 blocks next to our names,” Keleshian said. “Before we left, I told them, ‘See that block? Don’t mark it off. I’ll do it when I get back.’”The mission was a cakewalk compared to some of the earlier bombing runs, according to Hasley. “Most all the (planes) had flak holes, and our leader had an engine shot out,” he wrote. “No planes were lost, and thank God, I’ll never have to risk my neck again.”

Keleshian said he was invited to stick around and fly some more. “The commanding officer asked if I wanted to stick around and earn another stripe,” Keleshian recalled. “I told him I was done. Living through 50 missions means you’re lucky.” He was on a ship in the Atlantic, six days into his voyage home, when the Allied invasion of Normandy was launched.

Keleshian returned to his work as a mechanic for GM and later spent 21 years with Videon dealerships in Delaware County. His war medals are prominently displayed in his living room and he still has the color-coded map of Europe that hung on the wall of his barracks in Manduria, a map marked with bombing targets and concentric circles, each denoting a 100-mile interval. Less than a year after exiting the service, Keleshian married Rose Arakelian, who would go on to work in the as a clerk in the Delaware County Courthouse and as a secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. She also served as president of the Armenian Relief Society. Rose Keleshian died in June 2010. Her daughter wishes she could have made the trip to Washington, D.C., last month. “Oh, my God, she would have loved it,” Janice Keleshian said. “They were married for almost 65 years and did everything together. They were inseparable. She would have been very proud.”

At the end of his speech, Serot-Alméras, the consul general, quoted French President Nicolas Sarkozy from a speech he made to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. “Twice, America has been called on to sacrifice her sons in order for France to remain a free nation,” he said. “We have no right to forget it and we will never forget it.

“Each time an American soldier falls, wherever in the world it may be, France feels solidarity with the United States, as that young soldier resembles those who fought for us on two separate occasions and sacrificed their lives in doing so.”