A Purple Heart has been awarded to a 92-year-old veteran who fought in Belgium during World War II more than 70 years ago.
Oscar Davis Jr. received his Purple Heart medal on Saturday, which was long overdue for the North Carolina man who was paralyzed from the waist down for three weeks after a tree fell on him, damaging his spine during the Battle of the Bulge, according to the Fayetteville Observer.
Davis -- a radio telephone operator in WWII – was told that he would be honored with a Purple Heart decades ago, according to The Associated Press. However, there was apparently some paperwork that had never been signed, which contributed to the delay.
Davis was a very happy man, though, when Lt. Col. Marcus Wright pinned his jacket with the Purple Heart over the weekend at Heritage Place in Fayetteville, where the war veteran currently resides.
"This has been some day," Davis said, according to the AP. "I couldn’t believe all this was going to happen. I just want to thank the Lord."
This comes after Davis received the Bronze Star among other medals in 2015 in a ceremony at the U.S. Army Airborne & Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville, the AP noted.
Capt. Andrew Hammack said Davis is "still one of us," adding that "he’s just not currently reporting for duty," the AP noted.
It’s been said that the radio Davis had on his back when he was wounded is what saved his life, the Fayetteville Observer noted.
Davis, at the time, had been knocked down by a big piece of shrapnel before the artillery caused a tree to fall on him, pinning him.
The Purple Heart medal is awarded to troops who were either wounded or killed in battle. The medal was inspired by the world’s oldest military honor – the Badge of Military Merit.
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