GEORGETOWN, Ohio — A local veteran is making a plea to the Bengals, urging the players to make another Georgetown veteran’s dreams come true.
100-year-old Gordon Haerr is a decorated World War II U.S. Army veteran, and he’s also a diehard Bengals fan. He watches every game from the Ohio Veterans Home in Georgetown.
“I suffer every time they lose,” he said. “I take it too seriously, but I like to see them win.”
It’s a simple pleasure for someone who was thrust into combat roughly eight decades ago.
“I have nightmares still,” Haerr said. “I have a few friends that were killed. That kind of got to me. But I was always lucky.”
“It took him 70 years to get his medals,” said his friend and fellow veteran Paul Brown (no relation to the Bengals founder). “Some of the stuff he had to do in World War II, a lot of people wouldn't want to do.”
“France gave me their highest medal, Legion of Honour,” Haerr said. “When you get that medal, you become a knight. And you use a title ‘sir’. But no one ever called me ‘sir.’”
Brown met Haerr through a mutual connection. When Brown heard about Haerr’s love for the Bengals, he decided to try to make Haerr’s dream come true: meeting players.
“That would probably be a lifetime dream come true,” Brown said. “That would probably make his year.”
Brown created a poster with some information about Haerr. He’s taken it to Paycor Stadium and held it up for nearly every game this season.
“All we're wanting is for some of the guys to come see him,” he told WCPO during a game last month.
Brown says he’s talked to people and written letters to try to get players’ attention, but has had no luck. He’s not giving up hope.
“A veteran is the largest family in the world,” Brown said. “Whether it be a woman or a man, it's family and we take care of our own.”
