VAN BUREN, Ark. -
The Fourth of July is a very patriotic holiday, and the perfect time for a local World War II veteran to receive several medals he earned more than sixty years ago.
During the war, Warren Blaylock was drafted into the Army and worked in evacuation hospitals all over the European theatre. After returning home, he joined the Rotary Club and didn't think about his discharge from the service until his son-in-law asked him about it a few months ago.
"He said, 'Let's look at your discharge and see if you were entitled to some type of recognition here,'" Blaylock said Thursday.
Blaylock and his family discovered he had actually earned quite a bit of recognition; his service during D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge had earned him a bronze star and four other medals.
When the German surge neared their hospital, Blaylock was one of six soldiers that volunteered to stay with 21 patients that were too injured to move.
"I was told they needed seven people to stay, so I volunteered since I was a single man, and I found five other single men to stay," he said. "One of them I had to drag, he didn't like me very much after that."
The next day, reinforcements returned to get him and his patients out.
"Captain said, 'They can either die staying here by the Germans, or they can die on the truck... Let's put them on the truck.' And not a single one of them died, we were really tickled about that."
Congressman John Boozman's office has worked with other veterans around the area to make sure they get the medals they earned. He and his staff were able to get Blaylock's medals to him just in time for the Fourth of July.
"We have a commitment, when medal requests come to us we don't put them in the mail," Rep. Boozman said. "It's so important for us to take this time to pause, pat these guys on the back and say thank you for your service to our country."
Blaylock's family is continuing their tradition of service in the armed forces; he has a grandson who's currently in his second tour of duty in Iraq.
"It's very different today, there's a lot more communication," he said. "He gets a chance to talk to his wife every weekend and see his little baby."
During the war, Warren Blaylock was drafted into the Army and worked in evacuation hospitals all over the European theatre. After returning home, he joined the Rotary Club and didn't think about his discharge from the service until his son-in-law asked him about it a few months ago.
"He said, 'Let's look at your discharge and see if you were entitled to some type of recognition here,'" Blaylock said Thursday.
Blaylock and his family discovered he had actually earned quite a bit of recognition; his service during D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge had earned him a bronze star and four other medals.
When the German surge neared their hospital, Blaylock was one of six soldiers that volunteered to stay with 21 patients that were too injured to move.
"I was told they needed seven people to stay, so I volunteered since I was a single man, and I found five other single men to stay," he said. "One of them I had to drag, he didn't like me very much after that."
The next day, reinforcements returned to get him and his patients out.
"Captain said, 'They can either die staying here by the Germans, or they can die on the truck... Let's put them on the truck.' And not a single one of them died, we were really tickled about that."
Congressman John Boozman's office has worked with other veterans around the area to make sure they get the medals they earned. He and his staff were able to get Blaylock's medals to him just in time for the Fourth of July.
"We have a commitment, when medal requests come to us we don't put them in the mail," Rep. Boozman said. "It's so important for us to take this time to pause, pat these guys on the back and say thank you for your service to our country."
Blaylock's family is continuing their tradition of service in the armed forces; he has a grandson who's currently in his second tour of duty in Iraq.
"It's very different today, there's a lot more communication," he said. "He gets a chance to talk to his wife every weekend and see his little baby."
