Horace Apgar was among members of the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art on hand to accept the 2007 National Humanities Medal on behalf of the foundation.
In all, nine distinguished Americans and the foundation were honored at the ceremony in the East Room.
"These medals recognize great contributions to art, music, theater, writing, history and general scholarship,” Bush said in a speech during the ceremony.
The foundation was honored for its efforts to recognize the contributions of the scholar-soldiers of World War II, according to the National Endowment for the Humanities.
What they did
The foundation was created to raise public awareness of the 345 or so men and women from 13 countries who protected monuments and other cultural treasures from the destruction of the war, according to the foundation's Web site.
Apgar was a tech sergeant in the 100th Infantry Division who spent nearly three years on patrol in France and Germany during the war.
In 1949, Apgar graduated from Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, and taught at the University of Oklahoma from 1951 to 1955.
For several decades, Apgar was the principal double-bass player with the Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic.
He was married for more than 50 years to Nancy S. Apgar, who died in August 2002.
She was a longtime Oklahoma City arts patron and taught music at Oklahoma City University.
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More Info
President Bush, third from left, presents the 2007 National Humanities Medal on Thursday to members of the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art of Dallas, Texas, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. From left are Robert Edsel, Jim Reeds, the president, Harry Ettlinger, Horace Apgar and Seymore Pomrenze. ASSOCIATED PRESS
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