a gold star family in milan finally got the ceremony it deserves 53 years after a relative died in the vietnam war rock island arsenal soldiers presented the family with the recognition he earned after all this time that's the top story at five o'clock marie nelson and her family got the bronze star purple heart and combat infantryman badge in honor of marie's husband private david wayne derry was killed in action during the vietnam war in 1968. the family never received any medals for his servi
ce until now marie spent the last few years working with the state of illinois to get them local 4's matt holderman joins us in the studio with what it means to the family matt thanks jim now take a second to let that sink in 53 years marine marie nelson had to live without the closure of having the awards her late husband earned sacrifice in his life in the vietnam war as you could imagine there wasn't a dry eye in the crowd today when she finally received them [Music] for over 50 years the dai
ry family lived without possession of the awards their loved one private david wayne dairy earned given his life in the vietnam war that changed today he absolutely deserved them he gave the ultimate he paid the ultimate price and finally they are where they should be and i'm just going to hold on to them for a while and then they will go to my daughter trina his daughter after years of working with her illinois u.s representative marie nelson recently got approved to receive the awards in her l
ate husband's honor when soldiers at the rock island arsenal heard the news they knew they had to give marie and her family a proper presentation ceremony anytime we can honor a fallen brother and more importantly honor their family and the gold star mother and daughter we will stop all that we're doing to do this lieutenant general tony aguto jr presented marie with her husband's bronze star metal purple heart and combat infantryman badge as well as an american flag understandably so marie was
overcome with emotion i'm very so very very thankful for him and i know my daughter she's anxiously waiting for me to pass him on down to her and that's the plan exactly for her husband's awards to be passed down through generations he might be gone but he continues on through his daughter his grandchildren and his great grandchildren at the end of my conversation with marie she quoted lyrics by billy ray cyrus when talking about her late husband those lyrics were if you ever think of me think o
f all your liberties because some gave all live in the studio matt holderman local 4 news matt thank you getting a bronze star is the fourth highest military honor it came to be in 1944. each medal is inscripted with heroic or meritorious achievement along with the name of the recipient
Comments