Paul Shadle Sr.’s time on Earth wasn’t without hardship, but the longtime Plum resident “truly enjoyed” his life, according to family.

Shadle died March 15 in Lower Burrell, barely a month after celebrating his 100th birthday.

He served during World War II in the 69th Infantry Division at the Battle of the Bulge, the brutal last push of the German army on the Western Front during the winter of 1944-45.

During the battle, Shadle was shot several times and later received a Purple Heart, according to his son, Paul Shadle Jr.

“His company commander actually carried him off the battlefield,” Shadle Jr. said.

The “Fighting 69th” later crossed the Rhine River and pushed through Germany until the Nazi surrender in May 1945. It is classified as a “liberating division” for its part in freeing prisoners of Nazi concentration camps.

Upon his return home, Shadle took a variety of jobs, his son said, including work as a coal miner, a mechanic and a machinist.

Working as a mechanic in 1952, a gasoline explosion left him with burns over 85% of his body, his son said.

Shadle was expected to die or remain permanently disabled. But he made a full recovery after spending about two years in the hospital, Shadle Jr. said.

In 1959, Shadle saw the birth of his only son with his first wife, Marian, who died in 2000.

Soon after Shadle retired in 1991, he suffered a heart attack and required a quadruple bypass surgery — but again made a full recovery.

“That was one tough guy,” his son said. “He was always ‘the glass half full.’”

Born in Greensburg, Shadle lived in the Allegheny Valley his whole life, settling in his Plum home along Greensburg Road in 1955.

He passed down the machining trade to his son and grandson, John Gorsuch, who both work as full-time machinists.

Shadle Jr. said he began working with his father when he was 9 years old.

“He was a great dad,” Shadle Jr. said. “He taught me the trade, and I still do it to this day.”

According to Gorsuch, his grandfather would stop by his machine shop well into his 90s to help where he could.

But aside from his trade, Gorsuch said his grandfather taught him traits like respect and honor through his time in the Army.

“All my grandfathers helped instill in me the idea of honor,” he said.

After breaking his hip as the result of a fall two years ago, Shadle told doctors he wanted to make it to 100.

On Feb. 10, family, friends and members of the Lower Burrell American Legion gathered to celebrate his centenarian status.

Shadle is survived by his wife of 21 years, Dorothy Ann Morris Shadle; son Paul (Sharon) Shadle Jr., of Upper Burrell; grandson, John Gorsuch; and three great grandchildren, Julianna, Makayla and Gavin Gorsuch.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his first wife, Marian Shadle; brother, William Shadle; and two sisters, Violet Bargerstock and Dorothy Moore.

Friends were received Thursday at Rusiewicz of Lower Burrell Funeral Home before a private burial in Greenwood Memorial Park in Lower Burrell.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations made in his name to the Lower Burrell American Legion 868.