A 94-year-old WWII veteran with cancer will be awarded a Purple Heart 74 years after he was originally injured in Belgium.
U.S. Army Cpl. Francis Byrne was injured in 1944 when he was struck by a piece of shrapnel in the leg after a fellow soldier stepped on a Nazi landmine. His lieutenant said he would submit the proper paperwork so that he could receive the Purple Heart, but the lieutenant was killed the next day.
Previous efforts to obtain the award have been unsuccessful until now.
“Francis Byrne is an American hero and I’m so thrilled that he will finally receive his Purple Heart for his incredible sacrifice and service,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., tweeted on Thursday. “This Purple Heart is invaluable to Mr. Byrne and his family, and I so look forward to seeing him presented with it in the near future.”
Byrne, who was diagnosed with terminal kidney and bladder cancer several months ago and was told he had four more months to live, said he was “so emotional” after receiving the news because he didn’t think he would “live to see the day.”
“I started shaking … I was so emotional,” Byrne said, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader. “I didn’t think I would live to see the day. I got off the phone, and I couldn’t call anyone for 20 minutes to tell them about it, I was so emotional.”
Shaheen is pushing for an award ceremony in the next several “days, not weeks,” according to the New Hampshire Union Leader.
