Abbeville man receives DAR Medal of Honor

ABBEVILLE - It was 60 years coming, but it almost didn't arrive at all.

John Matthew McMahan spent more than two years in a prisoner of war camp during World War II. When the war ended, he was freed and quickly got his life back on track, starting a family and spending several more years in the military.

Several months ago, Lucy Willis, local chapter regent for the Daughters of the America Revolution, began looking around the community for potential recipients of the group's Medal of Honor. Tales of McMahan's experiences as a POW had been widely circulated, most recently appearing in a Feb. 17 profile in The Index-Journal

"I thought he was just an incredible person," said Catherine McBroom, state chairman for Americanism for Daughters of the American Revolution. "He was a prisoner of war, and it takes a lot of fortitude to go through that."

The Medal of Honor is the most prestigious award given by the Daughters of the American Revolution, she said.

McMahan was presented the medal during a Saturday morning ceremony on the steps of the Abbeville County Courthouse.

"I don't know how to express my appreciation and thanksgiving," McMahan told the gathering.

"I asked my family how I should express it. Their advice was to tell you all that I love you, and thank you."

McMahan enlisted in the Army in 1936 and was stationed at Fort Bragg when World War II began. Serving in North Africa, he was captured by the Germans in February 1943 and remained a prisoner of war for two years and three months

During a 25-year military career, he also was stationed in Korea and Okinawa, becoming an Army engineer in topography. McMahan retired from the Army in 1962 as a chief warrant officer and returned to Abbeville.

He worked for Davis and Floyd as a surveyor and construction inspector for 25 years before retiring.

"I think he deserved it," said son John Lindsay McMahan of Saturday's award. "My dad and some of his brothers and brothers-in-law would tell war stories from the time "I could sit up and listen to them. I pretty much grew up listening to their tall tales."

Willis said she grew up across the street from McMahan's family but was a child during the years that he was in the military.

"I didn't really know him until this all came about," she said.

"This is a day in history for Abbeville to honor such a man," Mayor Harold McNeill said.

"It is men like John McMahan that made America what it is today."