Nearly 80 years later, daughter of an Aurora man killed in World War II receives his medals

The last time 83-year-old Anna Green Showerman of Batavia was with her father, he held the then 3-year-old girl in his arms before heading out to fight and ultimately die during World War II.

Nearly 80 years later, Army Staff Sgt. John W. Green’s daughter received long overdue medals honoring his sacrifice.

“It’s overwhelming,” she said. “I obviously don’t remember him. But I do feel a little closer to him now. We’ve got some closure.”

Green was killed in action on Dec. 17, 1944, one day after his 21st birthday, during the Battle of the Bulge. For reasons unknown, his awards were never issued.

After years of research and work by Showerman, her family and a number of government officials, the Army rectified that Tuesday with a ceremony honoring Green with the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and a half dozen other medals and awards.

Army Col. Daniel Mitchell, who presented the medals to Showerman, said the experience was unlike any other he’d had in his time in the service.

“There were so many emotions,” he said. “It was very meaningful for me to be able to honor him, and I was feeling chills to be able to be a part of this ceremony and to show him that respect that he deserves.”

Sandy Showerman-Gast spent years helping her mom through the process of gathering information that led to Tuesday’s medal ceremony. She said it was a relief for her and her mom to see her grandfather get the honors he deserved.

“He mattered, and she never got that validation that he mattered,” Showerman-Gast said, fighting back tears. “It’s important, and now she can have all these medals and know that his sacrifice allowed us to be here.”

Showerman-Gast, who lives in Woodstock, said she’d been working on the genealogy of her family, but the part of her tree that represented her grandfather had been pretty bare up until their research.

“That one little Green branch that we knew nothing about, it’s part of me,” she said. “This is making me feel more whole.”

Though Showerman had been making inquiries about the missing medals since the mid-1990s, she credited a visit to the Kane County Government Building in Geneva to pay her taxes in 2019 as the turning point in her efforts.

She stumbled across the office of Jake Zimmerman, superintendent of the Veterans Assistance Commission of Kane County, who helped Showerman through the process for the past five years, including getting Sen. Tammy Duckworth involved.

Zimmerman was there Tuesday to see the culmination of their efforts.

“It’s satisfying for me to see them getting closure and get the honor that they did,” he said. “I don’t know how many other nations in the world do something like this so far after the fact, but we don’t forget. We get it right, even if it’s 80 years later.”