Paul D. Imre, a retired Baltimore County public health official and decorated World War II veteran, died of a heart attack Saturday at his Columbia home. He was 83.
Born in New York City, he enlisted in the Army immediately after his graduation from the Bronx High School of Science. He became an infantry paratrooper in World War II.
He parachuted into Carentan, France, two days after the Allied invasion began and fought his way through the country until he reached Belgium. During heavy fighting in the Battle of Bulge in January 1945, he was wounded in the back by shrapnel near Mande St. Etienne.
In a memoir, he recalled that harsh winter and seeing his friends killed before his eyes.
After being wounded, he recalled being placed on a stretcher, given five injections and waiting for an operating room to open in a field hospital.
"The next thing I remembered was a clean bed, a Purple Heart pinned to my sling and a lovely aroma of a hot turkey meal on a nearby tray - and a medic asking if I were hungry. With my left hand I examined my body to see if everything was in place," he wrote.
Mr. Imre recovered and asked to return to service. On a parachute jump over the Rhine River, he broke his ankle. He left military service in early 1946.
He was also awarded the Combat Infantry Badge with three battle stars.
After the war he earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois, a master's degree in psychology from New York University and another master's in public health from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.
He moved to Baltimore in 1951 and worked at the old Baltimore City Hospitals at Bayview. While serving as chief psychologist at Spring Grove State Hospital, he met his future wife, a nursing supervisor, at breakfast in the cafeteria.
"I told one of my colleagues that he was the guy I was going to marry," said his wife, the former JoEllen Varner. "He had a great personality. He laughed and joked and was the kind of guy I needed in my life."
They married in 1956 at Towson Presbyterian Church and bought a home in Catonsville.
He also taught at the Hopkins School of Public Health and joined the Baltimore County Health Department. He rose through its ranks to become director of the Southwestern (Catonsville-Arbutus) Community Mental Health Center. He also had a private practice in counseling as a licensed psychologist. He retired 15 years ago.
