GARDNERVILLE, Nev. (AP) — More than seven decades after he fought in the Battle of the Bulge, a 92-year-old World War II veteran from northern Nevada has been awarded the Purple Heart.
Russell Rodgers of Gardnerville served as a private first class in the Army's 101st Airborne's 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment.
The long wait for his medal — caused in part by the loss of his records in a fire in Chicago — came to an end over the weekend at a family celebration.
One of the perks of waiting so long is that his own grandson, a Green Beret, got to pin the medal on his grandfather's jump jacket.
Rodgers told The Gardnerville Record Courier after the ceremony that he's been so excited he's having trouble sleeping.
He says he joined the Airborne division to find out if the soldiers were "crazy or brave" and later learned "they were both."