Winter Park D-Day veteran, 103, to get Gold Medal for Army Ranger service

John Raaen, a resident of the Mayflower, joins a list of recipients of a Congressional medal first given to George Washington

Sept. 2, 2025

By Stephen Hudak

This story is part of the News Collaborative of Central Florida, a group of 10 local news outlets working towards a more informed and engaged region. It was originally published by the Orlando Sentinel.

Medals didn’t matter on D-Day to soldiers like John Carpenter Raaen, Jr.

“Never occurred to me,” said Raaen, now 103, a Winter Park resident and the only surviving Army Ranger who stormed Omaha Beach in France on June, 6, 1944, in a pivotal battle often regarded as the beginning of the end of World War II. “As a matter of fact, medals didn’t mean a lot to any of us.”

He and thousands of Allied troops who faced fortified German artillery fire hoped just to survive the firefight.

“We didn’t think many of us would be alive June 7,” he said.

About 4,400 Allied troops died in the battle, including 2,500 Americans.

Raaen, whose name is pronounce “ron,” moved to Central Florida after retiring in 1979 at the rank of major general. Among the many recognitions he earned during his 36 years of service was a Silver Star for valor in combat on D-Day when he was 22.

Now he is about to receive another prestigious honor: a Congressional Gold Medal.

The award, the nation’s highest civilian honor, is intended to serve as a lasting symbol of the nation’s gratitude, recognizing the U.S. Army Rangers of World War II for their unwavering, extraordinary bravery and critical contributions in key battles in  the war.

Raaen’s vivid D-Day memories, recalling the perils his Rangers faced, are memorialized in interviews posted on Youtube by the World War II Veterans History Project and the American Veterans Center. He has said the grim opening of the World War II drama “Saving Private Ryan,” which recreates the Allies’  bloody landing on Omaha Beach, “offers a little hint of what it was like.”

“It was just plain out and out hell,” he said.

Oil, steel, rubber and human flesh were all ablaze.

Dead and dying soldiers were scattered on the beach like seashells.

“The machine gun firing, the rifle firing went over our heads like a bunch of bees,” he said in the History Project interview. “I’m talking thousands and thousands of small arms rounds every minute, passing over your head and occasionally hitting somebody next to you.”

His military career seemed inevitable. The son of an Army officer, Raaen was born at Fort Benning, Georgia.

He was raised on army posts and graduated from the Military Academy at West Point in January 1943.

Nicknamed “Red,” for his once red hair, Raaen authored his own first-hand account of the D-Day invasion, “INTACT,” which relied on his personal letters, official war documents and sharp memory to tell the story of the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion as they helped establish a foothold for Allied troops and supplies to roll onto Berlin.

He provided oral histories for the BBC documentary series “D-Day: The Last Heroes” and for the Smithsonian Channel. He has been interviewed by more than two dozen war historians, who cite him in books and papers. Among those historians are presidential biographer Stephen E. Ambrose, author of the World War II best-seller “Band of Brothers.”

Raaen was involved in the development of anti-tank projectiles, armor-piercing small arms ammunition, artillery nuclear warheads and arming devices, according to his biography in the U.S. Army Ordnance Hall of Fame to which he was inducted in 2009.

A friend, retired U.S. Army Lt. Colonel Buck Leahy, listened with rapt attention last week when Raaen was interviewed again.

“I think over the course of my life, I’ve been fortunate enough to know a very small number of men who are genuine heroes,” Leahy said. “To a man, they are humble, unassuming, modest people, and John is…absolutely emblematic of that.”

Raaen could not attend the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony in Washington in June where he and the other four surviving Army Rangers from 6,500 who served in World War II were feted.

He will formally receive his medal this month at a ceremony at The Mayflower in Winter Park, the retirement community where he lives.

David Lyle Williams, president of the Descendants of World War II Rangers, read a note at the Washington ceremony from Raaen accepting the medal on behalf of all Rangers including the many who died in service to their country. Most who volunteered for the dangerous duty as a Ranger often said they wanted action and they got it, he said.

The regiment’s motto, minted on the gold medal, is “Rangers Lead the Way!”

“Many volunteered. Few were chosen,” Willliams said. “One man was rejected because he had false teeth.”

Williams said the soldier appealed, telling the colonel, “I don’t want to eat the Germans. I want to kill them.”

The appeal was persuasive. He became a Ranger.

The Congressional Gold Medal is a recognition of distinguished achievement and service.

The first recipient was George Washington in 1776, honored for his “wise and spirited conduct” in the American Revolution.

Originally conceived to honor the new nation’s military heroes, the award was created by Congress then expanded to recognize a diverse group of honorees and achievements in arts, music or sports; pioneering work in aeronautics and space, medicine and science.

The medal has been awarded to Civil Rights icons like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.

Some are obscure like Michigan boat-builder John Horn, Jr. , honored in 1874 for reportedly rescuing more than 100 people from drowning over an 11-year span, many of whom had fallen into the Detroit River getting on or off ferryboats. Others are world renowned — golfer/philanthropist Arnold Palmer,  singer Frank Sinatra and Catholic saint Mother Teresa.

Others recognized with the Congressional Gold Medal include:

• Aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright, recognized in 1909 for demonstrating to the world the potential of aerial navigation.
• Scientist/inventor Thomas A. Edison, recognized in 1928 for development of “inventions that have revolutionized civilization.”
• Dr. Jonas E. Salk, honored in 1955 “for discovering a serum for the prevention of polio.”
• Filmmaker and businessman Walt Disney, recognized in 1968 for “outstanding contributions to the United States and the world.”
• Baseball player Roberto Clemente, honored in 1973 for “outstanding athletic, civil, charitable, and humanitarian contributions.” He perished in a plane crash in 1972 on a humanitarian mission to deliver aid to the earthquake-ravaged nation of Nicaragua.
• Religious leaders Ruth and Billy Graham, honored in 1996 for “outstanding and enduring contributions toward faith, morality, and charity.”
• The U.S. Capitol Police, recognized in August 2021, for protecting the U.S. on January 6, 2021 against a mob of insurrectionists.

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