Charles Shay, a decorated Native American veteran who was a 19-year-old U.S. Army medic when he landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day and helped save lives, died on Wednesday. He was 101.

Shay died at his home in Bretteville-L'Orgueilleuse in France's Normandy region, his longtime friend and carer Marie-Pascale Legrand said.

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Shay, of the Penobscot tribe and from Indian Island in the U.S. state of Maine, was awarded the Silver Star for repeatedly plunging into the sea and carrying critically wounded soldiers to relative safety, saving them from drowning. He also received France’s highest award, the Legion of Honor, in 2007.

Shay had been living in France since 2018, not far from the shores of Normandy where nearly 160,000

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