“I’d say this is a much worse disaster than anything I could conceive of,” said Martin Copenhafer, who survived D-Day
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A World War II veteran is starting over at 104 after his Malibu home was recently lost in the Pacific Palisades fire.
Speaking to Los Angeles’ ABC 7 on Monday, Jan. 20, Martin Copenhafer said it’s still hard to process the monumental loss.
“I’m in shock, I’m still in shock,” he told the outlet.
Copenhafer lived in the home for 55 years until flames wiped his community away when the fires began on Jan. 7. He told the news station that he wasn’t able to take much before evacuating.
“I look out the window and see embers,” Copenhafer recalled. “So we grabbed what we could get quickly, in five minutes, threw it in the car and just got out of there with the clothes on our back.”
Though officials have yet to state the exact cause of the Pacific Palisades fire, lack of rain and dry vegetation fueled the wildfire, while severe winds fanned the flames at unprecedented speeds.
According to Cal Fire, the Palisades fire has burned more than 23,000 acres and is now 61% contained.
“Now I have to start all over again in a new life. I’d say this is a much worse disaster than anything I could conceive of,” said the veteran, who survived D-Day in Normandy, France, in 1944.
For Copenhafer’s 100th birthday, he was honored in Malibu for his service in the Navy. The following year, he received the Legion of Honor medal — France’s highest and most prestigious award.
“To confer such a medal to an individual is a solemn occasion,” Julie Duhaut-Bedos, the French consul general in Los Angeles, said during a ceremony at the time. “This medal is of high importance to France. It’s a way to express beyond words, gratitude of my country.”
It is unknown if Copenhafer was able to take the Legion of Honor medal with him when he fled the wildfire.
His relatives described him as someone who would help anyone in need.
“He would give you the shirt off his back, and my heart, it’s just broken over this fire and being displaced and all that’s gone on. It’s just horrible,” his niece, Debbie Copenhafer Iacobucci, told ABC 7.
Although Copenhafer loved his Malibu community, he told the news station that he does not plan to rebuild because the process would take too long. He instead plans to move to Sacramento to be closer to other family members.
