CLARKSBURG, W.Va (WDTV) – Friends, fellow veterans and community members came to the West Virginia Veterans Nursing Facility on Wednesday to pay their final respects to Paul McCue.

McCue is a 98-year-old World War II veteran and a true hero of our community.

At age 16, he joined the U.S. Naval Amphibious Forces and continued to serve his community after his retirement.

“After I retired, I worked at Pittsburgh Paints for 12 years and 11 months, and then I worked as a police officer while working at Paints. Then when Paints closed, I was just a police officer and I was all about being a police officer, having no cover and taking risks,” McCue said. “And then when I finished being a police officer, I went to the Sheriff’s Department and I was there for 12 years and 11 months.”

McCue joined the Navy in 1943, in the midst of World War II.

Retired U.S. Army Sergeant David Tucker says it is important to honor McCue because he is part of the so-called “Greatest Generation.”

“They answered the cry of freedom, and that is our greatest need, and that is something that is as important today as it was then,” Tucker said. “We owe men like Mr. McCue a debt that can never be repaid.”

McCue wants a bridge dedicated to him to be built in West Virginia.

Although this can only officially happen after his death, a symbolic street sign was presented to him at the ceremony on Wednesday to honor his legacy now.

McCue hopes that all of his photos and documents from the war will one day end up at the Clarksburg History Museum to educate the public about his life and the war.

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