Samuel Kunz, 102, hero in World War I

Samuel Kunz's oldest son was just a young boy when he discovered a trunk with his dad's World War I uniform inside.

It was many years later before Robert Kunz really understood what his father had been through as a soldier.

"Dad was never a very prolific talker about his experience. But bit by bit, over the years, he told us what happened," said Robert Kunz.

"He didn't make headlines like some of the big-money guys. But I consider dad a hero."

Samuel Kunz died last Saturday (Dec. 16) at his home in Pinehurst Park Terrace, an assisted-living facility. He was 102.

The French government awarded Mr. Kunz the fabled Legion of Honor medal for fighting in the horrific Western Front battles. Kunz was gassed, wounded in the knee and nearly killed after being shot in the jaw.

When he received the medal at a ceremony in Seattle last year, Mr. Kunz was only one of 3,200 surviving American World War I veterans.

Despite his overseas military adventures, Mr. Kunz never strayed far from his North Seattle roots.

At age 7, his family moved from Florida to a chicken farm near Green Lake. Mr. Kunz and his father would haul eggs and produce by horse and buggy over dirt roads to the Pike Place Market.

At Lincoln High School, he was a star in three sports.

He then enlisted in the Washington State National Guard, where he was sent to the Mexican border to guard against invasion by Pancho Villa's rebel army.

The desert temperatures were as big a threat as the bullets: He told his son that when the troops mustered each morning, many of the men passed out from heat prostration.

In 1918, his company was remobilized and shipped to France. Mr. Kunz fought in many of the most famous battles including Chateau Thierry and the Allies' final Argonne offensive.

In one battle, he was shot in the jaw and dragged back to a field hospital by German prisoners. Two months later, he returned to the Western Front.

His injuries lingered. For several years after the war, Robert Kunz said his father could eat only pureed food because of stomach damage from being gassed.

After returning home, Mr. Kunz married Juanita Digby, who grew up in the same Green Lake neighborhood. The couple had three sons.

Mr. Kunz, who studied electrical engineering at the University of Washington for one year, eventually became an electrician and electrical contractor. He was a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical workers for more than 65 years.

He was also renowned among family and neighbors for his gardening.

In retirement, Robert Kunz said, his father created immaculate, well-ordered vegetable gardens and wonderful displays of dahlias, geraniums and roses. Once he helped Robert plant 104 varieties of rhododendrons at Robert's Issaquah home.

"When I think of my grandfather, I think of his beautiful gardens," said Donald Kunz, Mr. Kunz's grandson.

"All of it stems, I think, from his growing up on a farm."

But family was the real center of his life, say relatives.

He was a scoutmaster, taught his sons and grandchildren how to fish and camp, played catch with them and showed his son James how to use a telescope. When Robert built a home in Issaquah, Mr. Kunz installed an elaborate wiring system.

"He wasn't neccessarily the person who'd come up and hug you," said Donald Kunz. "But he was a hands-on grandfather, who showed us how to do all sorts of things. It was remarkable to have that kind of relationship."

Mr. Kunz is survived by his brother, Edward of Winlock; sons Robert of Seattle and James of Seattle; six grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren and one great-great grandson.

No services are scheduled. The family requests remembrances go to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, 5213 Pacific Highway East, Fife, Wa. 98424.