Price Thrall honored for service with flag ceremony
“I’m just amazed.”
Those are the only words Price Thrall could muster once he was helped to his seat at the table of honor.
The retired Army brigadier general was honored Saturday during a surprise birthday party at the LDS church on West 500 South.
Organized by his wife Julia Thrall, the party began with a prayer, followed by a VFW flag ceremony, a few gifts from the local veterans group and then dinner and dessert.
The party was held in the church’s auditorium, where tables lined one wall, each one carrying a glass box full of military honors Thrall earned throughout his long career. Thrall is a veteran of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam conflict. He was with the 101st Airborne Division and parachuted into France on D-Day.
Thrall’s daughter Jeanette Henriksen and son-in-law Ray Henriksen travelled from Longwood, Wash. to surprise the local veteran on his birthday.
This isn’t the first time Thrall has made newspaper headlines.
In 2011, Thrall was able to receive the military medals of his older brother, Herchel Thrall, who died in France during World War II.
It took 67 years for the medals to finally be given to the family. The honors included a Distinguished Service Cross; a Silver Star; two Bronze Stars; two Purple Hearts; an American Campaign medal; a European Theater of Operations medal with two battle stars; a Combat Infantry Badge; a World War II Victory medal; a French Croix de Guerre medal; and a Presidential Unit citation.
Thrall, an Arkansas native, had already relocated to Price when U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch heard of his quest to retrieve his brother’s medals.
“I’ve been trying for 30 years to get them, and of course we finally got them 66 years late, but it’s better late than never, I guess,” he told his hometown newspaper, The Log Cabin Democrat, at the time.
Thrall joined the military in 1943, lying about his age—he was 15 years old when he enlisted. He eventually went to parachute school and served with the 101st Airborne Division, parachuting into France and Holland.
He would spend a career in the military, rising to one-star general upon retirement. His wife says he moved to Price in 2002.