Horace Whitley Appleby (1913-2016): World War II Army Vet Received 10 Medals Late
July 5, 2016
By: Toledo Blade
July 5, 2016
Horace Whitley Appleby of Point Place, a decorated Army veteran of World War II who was a retired die setter, died of apparent complications from a stroke Sunday in Kingston Residence of Perrysburg. He was 102.
“He was a kind, loving, nonjudgmental person,” his son, Richard Appleby, said. “He treated everyone as a friend; he knew no strangers.”
Mr. Appleby retired in 1976 from the former Prestole Corp. on Miami Street in Toledo after 32 years as a die setter.
On Jan. 6, 1945, Army Pvt. Horace Appleby took action, saving the life of a comrade, and for that he was awarded the military’s third-highest decoration, the Silver Star.
“I didn’t think much about it,” Mr. Appleby of Toledo, told the Blade in 2015. “I did what I had to do.”
His medals, many of which he didn’t know he was entitled to until his great-niece, Renee Hahn of Perrysburg, started inquiring about his personnel records, include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge 1st Award, Honorable Service Lapel Button, and the Marksman Badge with rifle bar.
“He’s the family treasure,” Mrs. Hahn told The Blade at the time. “You better believe it.”
Miss Kaptur said at the time the medal presentation was “to pay tribute to a veteran whose memories and whose service have given us the liberty that we commemorate this July Fourth.”
Born Dec. 22, 1913, in Birmingham, Ala., to Everett and Maggie Appleby, Mr. Appleby was the fifth of 10 children.
He grew up in Moundsville, Ala., and moved to Toledo at age 20 for work in the auto industry.
He was drafted on July 31, 1941, when he was 27 years old. After training at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, he and his unit — Company E, 180th Infantry Regimen — were sent to North Africa. The unit eventually was deployed across Europe.
In battle, a man next to him in a foxhole was shot dead. His unit was, essentially, under enemy fire for 22 months.
“I was lucky. I didn’t even get a scratch,” Mr. Appleby said.
He was awarded the Silver Star for an incident in which he and his squad, who were threatened by encirclement by the enemy, were ordered to pull back. As they edged their way out of enemy fire, the squad realized they were missing a man. Mr. Appleby went back into enemy fire to find the man and was able to guide him back to safety, according to military documents.
Also during his four years in the service, Mr. Appleby’s unit helped to liberate Dachau, a concentration camp near Munich, in 1945. When the soldiers arrived, many of the prisoners were emaciated and sick. Soldiers gave up most of their rations to the prisoners, Mr. Appleby said.
“I hated to see that,” Mr. Appleby said of the starving people.
In retirement, Mr. Appleby lived in Point Place, in the house where he had lived for 63 years. He enjoyed bowling, playing poker and craps, and attending card parties. Though a lifelong Democrat, he watched Fox News, his son said.
“He was a humble gentleman,” Ms. Hahn said. “He was an inspiration. He never met a stranger. He never spoke bad of anyone nor did anyone ever speak bad of him. He was the family patriarch. And if you ever met him, you walked away a better person. He instilled pride, humility, and he was not judgmental.”
Surviving are his daughter, Patricia Hennessy; son, Richard Appleby; eight grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren, and 10 great-great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be 2 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Urbanski Funeral Home, 5055 Secor Rd., Toledo, where services will be at 1 p.m. Friday, with military services following in Ottawa Hills Memorial Park.
The family suggests tributes to Angel Flight, 12345 East Skelly Dr., Tulsa, Okla.