This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

A representative of France on Saturday presented the French Legion of Honor to a World War II veteran from Sandy.

Sam Boyack, 91, received the medal during a ceremony at the state Capitol. France has bestowed the honor to American veterans across the United States in recent years. Boyack is at least the third Utah veteran to receive the Legion of Honor.

Boyack, originally from Spanish Fork, enlisted in the Army Air Corps in November 1942. He was a radio operator in England who helped coordinate air support for Gen. George Paton's 3rd Army, according to a biography supplied by his family.

He went ashore on Utah Beach on the third day of the Normandy invasion and remained hunkered there for 10 days until the rest of the division arrived. The Air Corps discharged Boycak in October 1945.

Boyack and his wife, the former Shirley Christensen, have two children, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

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