NORWAY – Grant Leonard’s memories of World War II include being shot and then carried. Two soldiers ran through gunfire carrying him. He remembers that they laid him over the windshield of a jeep and rushed him to a medical tent.

Leonard was awarded the Purple Heart as a result of his injuries, but he wouldn’t have been here to receive the honor without the help of those soldiers.

Leonard held a barbecue recently at his home as a way to say thanks to all servicemen for their sacrifices and to welcome others to join the Military Order of the Purple Heart. Seventeen people attended the barbecue.

Injured servicemen and servicewomen asked to belong to the Military Order of Purple Heart “have seen the worst of the war,” he said.

Leonard was a 1st lieutenant in the 80th Infantry Division of Patton’s 3rd Army in Europe on D-Day. “Gen. George Patton, who was under Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Eisenhower himself, who was commanding general of the Allied Forces, were two of the best military men ever. They were remarkable.”

Leonard said he was taken prisoner during the Battle of the Bulge. It was horrible, he said.

Prisoners were held in a dirt cellar with no bathroom. They were fed potato soup, “made with green potatoes, roots and all,” once a day.

He said the POWs did their best to keep their wits about them. “There was no daylight and no electric lights. It was conversation that kept us going.”

Each of the members of the Purple Heart chapter was wounded in combat, from a bullet wound to shrapnel wounds from the fragments of explosive devices.

Members of the Thomas J. Field Chapter 2699 Military Order of Purple Heart, meet at the Maine Veterans Home in Paris.

They’d like their group to be more inclusive. “We know there must be more wounded veterans out there,” Leonard said. “They can be from any war. We would like for them to join us. The Purple Heart chapters offer wounded veterans an opportunity to talk about their injuries and memories of war.”

There are five Maine chapters, according to chapter member Bert Lafrance of Lewiston, and more than 30,000 members nationwide. For meeting information, phone Lafrance at 783-3767.