Altadena author Miles Corwin was in the front row at the Interior Department yesterday when President Barack Obama signed the bill repealing the military’s “Don’t ask – don’t tell” policy, and told the story of Corwin’s father, whose life was saved in World War II at the Battle of the Bulge by his buddy — a soldier who happened to be homosexual.

Pictured: Miles Corwin

Corwin’s sister Leni wrote Altadenablog that Obama’s speechwriter contacted Corwin to ask permission to use his 1993 LA TImes story about his father’s friendship with “Frank,” (now identified as Andy Lee), who saved Pvt. Lloyd Corwin when he slid 40 feet down an embankment and was “as good as dead.”  Lee went down to save the older Corwin.  The two renewed their friendship some 40 years after the war, when Lee revealed his sexual orientation to Corwin.

Wrote MIles Corwin: “If it wasn’t for one gay in the military, my father never would have survived the war, and I never would have been born.”

Leni said that the White House flew Miles Corwin to the ceremony, where the President recalled his story in a speech during the signing.

The LA Times has coverage of the signing here, and Miles Corwin’s 1993 story about his father and Lee is here.