Sheldon Mermelstein sat under the shade of his backyard deck in Midtown Wednesday afternoon, recalling memories that he only recently has begun sharing with friends and family.

Beside him was the Army dress coat he wore when he was a combat engineer with the 94th Infantry Division during World War II. The 88-year-old's hands thumbed the ribbons and medals -- among them a Purple Heart, four battle stars and the Distinguished Unit Citation -- as he chuckled at the thought of trying to fit into the coat he wore as a young man.

"Don't ask me to try it on," he said, smiling.

He will have to make room for one more award today as the French government awards Mermelstein the Legion of Honour -- that country's highest honor -- during a Veterans Day ceremony at Miami Memorial Park. Mermelstein's invitation was signed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The native of Scranton, Pa., shrugged his shoulders when asked what actions of his prompted the honor, explaining that he has long considered his memories of the war a private and personal matter.

"I think it's because I'm alive and there's not too many of us left," Mermelstein said of his surviving comrades. "We're a dying generation."

For Mermelstein, the Battle of the Bulge, the Siege of Bastogne and the bloody Saar River crossing -- gruesome engagements that led to the liberation of western Europe and victory on that continent -- remain vivid in his mind.

"I told him a few years ago that at some point he needs to talk about it," said his wife, Deborah. "You can't keep it inside forever."

Mermelstein recalled the war in machine-gunlike bursts, and jumped from one event to another, sometimes politely asking that a tidbit be omitted from the record.

"After the war, I just wanted to move on with my life," said the retired commercial truck manufacturer and salesman. "I didn't want to recall those things. You want to get on with life and forget."

Mermelstein's first look at France occurred on Omaha Beach in Normandy 14 days after the D-Day invasion. He was aboard a ship and had to jump onto a flat-bottomed landing craft.

"You had to time your jump just right," he said. "A lot of guys got killed. They fell between the landing craft and the ship and they were slamming into each other." Fourteen days after D-Day, Omaha Beach was still "a big mess," Mermelstein said.

As combat engineers, his company was charged with the dangerous task of clearing mine fields and dreaded "pill boxes," which were heavily fortified ramparts containing enemy machine gunners or snipers. Men would charge the boxes and throw a satchel charge inside.

"When you detonate an explosive inside an enclosed space, everyone inside is gone," he said.

Mermelstein clearly recalled his company's attempt to cross the Saar River. Gen. George Patton wanted a bridge built across the river quickly, but German artillery and machine guns pounded the 94th Infantry and the 10th Armored divisions.

As quickly as men installed floating pontoons, they were blown up.

There was not enough men or materials to build the bridge in the face of such resistance, but they eventually got the job done when Patton ordered replacement soldiers to the front.

"We lost over two-thirds of our company," he said. "About 120 men."

That was all Mermelstein wanted to say about his experiences on the Saar River.

His wife asked him to recall how he was able to enlist, given his poor eyesight, even at a young age. Mermelstein let go a small smile, seemingly happy to change the subject.

"I memorized the eye graph," he said. "By the time I got to the front of the line to read it, I had perfect vision."

He shrugged again when asked what the French government found in his military record that prompted his award of the Legion of Honour.

"I feel very, very humbled," Mermelstein said. "I wrote the French ambassador back and told him that I will accept it for everyone still there, who are still in France, who are buried there."

alinhardt@keysnews.com