FAIRMONT (Tribune News Service) — Friends and family of one of the last living members of the Greatest Generation in the area are trying to get him community recognition before he passes.

Paul F. McCue, 98, joined the Navy in 1943, at the age of 16. The Merchant Marine told him he didn’t have enough experience, so a frustrated McCue went across the street, where the Navy took him.

“He’s one of a kind, or second to none,” Kip Price, who is helping to organize the effort to honor McCue, said. “He’s done about everything you can think of and then some. He deserves all the recognition and honor we can give him, especially as being part of the greatest generation. They don’t make them any better than that generation he was part of.”

On Wednesday, Price and his compatriot, David Tucker, presented McCue with a replica bridge sign bearing his name. For the last two years, Price has advocated to rename a bridge in McCue’s honor. Tucker said there are less than 1000 WWII veterans in West Virginia. His hope is for McCue to see it before he’s gone. However, bridges in West Virginia are owned by the state. And there’s one downer rule in place before McCue can see his name on a bridge sign.

He needs to have died first.

“We want to see it done now, while he can still smell the roses with us and we can enjoy it with him,” Price said.

McCue initially wanted a bridge named after him in Adamston, where he hails from. Now, Price is redirecting his attention to Clarksburg. If he can’t secure a bridge for McCue, Price is open to having a street named after the veteran.

Clarksburg Assistant City Clerk Paula Hardman said a process exists to rename city streets. First, applicants must explain who they want to name the street for, why they want to make the change, and other details in a letter of request to the city clerk. The clerk then presents it to city council. Members have to consider the request along with the impact of the change.

“If it’s a street rename, it might affect people’s addresses,” Hardman said. “So all that has to be considered.”

One upside is there is no requirement for the subject of the honor to have passed away before the rename happens. Hardman said she recalled it happening one other time, but could not remember who it was for. She did remember the person hadn’t died yet when it happened.

The City of Fairmont recently passed a new program for this exact purpose, it even takes into consideration the issue of changing addresses by allowing streets to keep their original names for postal purposes but adds an extra historic name to the street. The signs are placed atop the original signs on their poles.

So far, only one person has had the honor bestowed, Catherine Dooley Taylor. She received her honorary street at the end of July. Taylor passed in 2012.

“We’re still working out some of the implementation, but currently the public can apply for a street to be named for an individual of note who lived on that street,” Fairmont Communications Manager David Kirk said. “The application fee is $150 and goes toward the cost of the custom street sign. Applications are vetted by the Historic Landmarks Commission, and they decide if the applicant is worthy of a street sign.”

Fairmont does own one bridge, but it’s already named after Frank K. Everest Jr., another WWII veteran and aviator.

McCue served on a Landing Ship Tank in the Pacific. Those vehicles were designed for amphibious operations and deployed tanks from the ocean to the battlefield. He partook in the island hopping campaigns, moving from islands close to New Guinea and the Solomons, up to the Philippine Islands.

One night when McCue stood on watch in San Pedro Bay, he heard an explosion. Turning to the source of the sound, McCue saw one of its destroyer escorts shed its depth charges as water and steam rose from the wounded ship.

“The skipper had to do that instantly because at the same time he reported to us about the torpedo,” McCue said in an interview from 2017 provided by Price. “There were 19 casualties and 20 injuries. That could have been our ship. I probably would not have been here today if it wasn’t for that destroyer.”

Learning McCue had to die before having the bridge renamed after him disappointed Tucker. He said McCue deserves the honor, especially since after his military service, he served in law enforcement and brought awareness to one of military massacres perpetrated by the Nazis on American soldiers.

“We cannot afford to forget our heroes,” Tucker said. “The time to honor them is when they are alive to enjoy the praise.”

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