Leggio “Lee” Sassi’s military career started off as a precocious teenager, lying about his age to enter the Army. Almost 90 years later, he received France’s most prestigious service award.
Sassi, 103, was given the French Legion of Honor – similar to the U.S. Medal of Honor – during a special event last week in Ellicott City, Maryland, according to Army.mil.
Sassi lied about his age to join the Army in 1938 at the tender age of 15. After completing a two-year contract, he extended his service to help train soldiers at Fort Meade, Maryland. He received an honorable discharge in 1941 but returned to the Army in 1942 after the U.S. entered World War II.
Caroline Monvoisin, France’s general consul, presented the medal, established by Napoleon Bonaparte, to Sassi and his family. The medal included a signed certificate from France’s President Emmanuel Macron.
The ceremony was held at VFW Post No. 7472 with Command Sgt. Maj. Richard Moore from Fort Meade delivering the keynote address. Moore said Sassi showed resolve and determination while leading troops in key operations during the war, including the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944-45.
“America’s sons and daughters have been outnumbered, out-trained, and out-equipped since the American Revolution,” said Moore. “But what we have had, and continue to have, is something no other country has — that is the best leaders a country could ever ask for.”
First Taste of Service
Why did Sassi fib on his application and join the Army at 15, with America still three years away from World War II?
Turns out, young Sassi wasn’t crazy about life in his hometown of Star Junction, Pennsylvania, a coal-mining hamlet. He didn’t want to spend years in the mines after high school and yearned for something bigger.
After he passed basic training, he was sent to Hawaii for two years, probably thinking military life wouldn’t be too bad. In 1940, he was reassigned to Fort Meade, figuring his time in the Army would soon end. However, he was enticed into extending his service for a year to train personnel.
He left the service in 1941 with a solid military resume, but when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, he knew he had to reenlist.
Called to Action in Famous Battle
Sassi spent time in England in 1944 before his unit relocated to France.
He served under the 6th Armored Division in the 44th Armored Infantry Battalion, marching 230 miles through France to reach the Siegfried Line, separating France and Germany in October 1944.
In December, the 6th Armored Division was sent to Bastogne, Belgium, to aid a unit pinned down by enemy forces. It became known as the Battle of the Bulge, one of the bloodiest in World War II history. Sassi’s battalion pushed out German troops south of Bastogne, and despite brutal winter conditions and a powerful counterattack, the unit was praised for its “fierce fighting and indomitable spirit of the Allies.”
To Germany and Liberation
Victory proved costly in the Battle of the Bulge, but Allied forces broke the stalemate and reached Germany in the spring of 1945.
What Stassi and his unit would discover on April 11 was straight out of a horror movie – the Buchenwald Concentration Camp.
“We aided some 21,000 of Germany’s so-called ‘undesirables’,” Sassi said.
Sassi suffered shrapnel wounds days later near Zeitz, Germany, and was transported to England before flying back to the U.S. to recuperate in a Washington, D.C. hospital.
The Army veteran received an honorable discharge on Oct. 31, 1945, but still yearned for more service time. He signed up again on Nov. 1.
His final deployment was in occupied Japan and Korea. Afterwards, he returned to Fort Meade for a familiar assignment, training troops under President Harry Truman’s Honor Guard. Sassi received his last discharge in the summer of 1948.
Humble Soldier, Dedicated Family Man
Sassi kept busy after the military but always tried to carve out time for family … and a little baseball.
“The neighbors’ boys used to knock on the door and ask if Dad could come out to play,” said Sassi’s daughter, Gail Conway.
Quiet and humble, Sassi doesn’t talk much about his war experiences. Following the service, he poured his energy into a job at Westinghouse, along with raising his two daughters with his late wife Iris. He now has five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Along with the Legion of Honor, the 103-year-old also received several state and local citations, including a proclamation declaring Nov. 28, 2025, “Lee Sassi Day” in Howard County, Maryland.
