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WW II Battle of The Bulge Purple Heart recipient Clinton Sagers dies
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July 6th, 2009, A gentle hero of the ‘greatest generation’ has died, but not before accomplishing one of the most important milestones in the legacy he would leave behind for his children and grandchildren. It would be 64 years later on August 21st, 2008 at the age of 86 that an old farmer from Rush Valley, Utah would finally win his unyielding battle with Army officials to receive his well-deserved Purple Heart - the oldest American symbol awarded for blood spilled in combat, for injuries he sustained as an Army Infantryman at the Battle of the Bulge.
At the age of 21, Clinton Sagers was drafted by the Army and sent to Belgium to fight one of the bloodiest battles of World War II during the coldest winter months of 1944-1945. After an all-night firefight Private Sagers suffered shrapnel wounds to his knee and fell behind the rest of his unit. He was captured, half-starved, frost-bitten and shipped in a boxcar to a German prisoner of war camp where he arrived in Limberg, Germany on Christmas Eve 1944, and spent five months in captivity at the Nazi POW Camp Mulberg. When the Allies won the war and Nazi troops withdrew Sagers was set free, but it was there in the camp that he was first treated for his wounds by a Russian medic who was also being held at the same German prison camp. Unfortunately, what little records may have been kept while in captivity had long disappeared by the time he had made his second formal appeal to receive his Purple Heart 
At First, the medal didn’t matter to Sagers as he was just happy to return home alive and it would be some 60 years later that he would take up an unexpected 6 year battle to correct his record. Sagers, now more determined, wanted this medal as part of the legacy he would leave for his children, and to their children. It wasn’t long after he began the quest that he would learn from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, that his file was most likely burned in a 1973 fire that destroyed millions of pages of military service records, leaving no proof that Sagers had ever suffered the injuries or ever made a written request to receive his Purple Heart.
In 2002, Sager’s daughter Jolene decided to pursuit the matter in her father’s behalf pushing state and federal officials to write some 40 letters, hundreds of emails along with dozens of telephone calls to Army officials, including the Utah Director of Veterans Affairs, Terry Schow. He was deeply touched by Sager’s story and gave his promise to give the push from his office for what he thought would be enough influence to break through the Army red tape; however, to Schow’s surprise officials weren’t moved and they made it clear they were playing strictly by the rules. They asked to see documentation of his war-related wounds, and wanted them from the doctor who treated him. They rendered the Department of Veterans Affairs documentation as insufficient, despite the fact they had long acknowledged the shrapnel in Sager’s leg.
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It eventually took a group of dedicated Utah state dignitaries joined by Sagers and his family six years to finally convince the U. S. Army that Private Clinton Sagers, an old infantryman, be finally granted his medal. Utah’s Department of Veterans Affairs Director Terry Show’s biggest fear was that Sagers would die before he would receive his Purple Heart.
And so it was, that 64 years after the Allies would win the war, Sagers stood with his devoted family inside the Gold Room at the Utah state Capitol where he was honored by then Gov. Jon Huntman, Jr., Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, & the determined Veterans Affairs director Terry Schow, and received his long overdue Purple Heart.
Fighting back the tears Terry Schow remarked, “Sagers had the worst job in the military as an infantryman and deserved the Purple Heart. I knew he’d earned it”. A softspoken Sagers replied, “I have never seen such a commotion made for an ‘old farmer’ like me, but I’m happy for the honor. The Purple Heart means a lot to me, I’ve wanted it for a long time and I deserve it”, he proclaimed, “and this event is one of the most wonderful days of my 86 years”.
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Daughter Jolene said that her father rarely spoke of the war until he began slowing down in his later years, and that her only regret was that her mother wasn’t alive to see it.
Sagers is survived by his four children.
Photo Credit: Andersen Clan blogspot/Grandpa and His Purple Heart
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