COURTESY: Times Bulletin
VAN WERT, Ohio (AP) - A 95-year-old World War II veteran in Ohio has received his combat medals that were mistakenly withheld.
U.S. Rep. Bob Latta presented a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and other decorations to Orval Mullen on Wednesday, his birthday, at an American Legion hall in Van Wert.
Latta says Mullen earned the commendations for heroic actions in combat but never got them because of "a military oversight." Latta says he learned about that oversight last summer while interviewing Mullen for the Library of Congress Veterans' History Project and wanted to make sure the error was corrected.
Mullen received nearly a dozen medals or other honors in all.