SALT LAKE CITY — Despite his courage and an outstanding military record, Morgan County resident Lewis Frongner did not have the medals he earned in World War II.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, presented Frongner with those medals on Thursday during a brief ceremony at his office.
Frongner, 92, served 20 months in the Philippines during World War II as a light mortar crewman.
“America is free because of its veterans,” Hatch said. “Lewis and so many like him have helped shape America and blessed our nation with freedom and peace.”
Since Frongner did not talk about World War II, his family did not know until last year he had earned these medals and had never been presented with most of them.
Frongner had left behind the few medals he was awarded at the time, when his group was ordered to leave the Philippines and were not given any time to pack or even pick up their duffle bags. Beside the medals he left behind, other medals such as his Bronze Star, were shown in his discharge papers as awarded, although they had never been bestowed.
Comments