UNIVERSAL CITY, Texas, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- World War II veteran Roy E. Talbott was awarded the Purple Heart this week in Texas, 63 years after heroically saving a fellow soldier while wounded himself.
Talbott, who pulled an injured soldier from a fiery plane wreck in 1944, was given the prestigious military award at Randolph Air Force Base at Universal City, Texas, Tuesday in front of his proud daughter, Army Col. Donna Talbott, the San Antonio Express-News said.
While it took the military more than six decades to honor her father, Talbott's daughter was pleased her father received the award so many veterans are never able to accept.
"I'm very proud of my dad, and I'm pleased that he's gotten the recognition he deserved," the younger Talbott said. "I feel saddened that others have received it posthumously."
The newspaper said Talbott was on board a military aircraft that crash-landed in New Guinea on May 4, 1944. The plane immediately burst into flame and while he had already suffered a broken wrist and sustained a shrapnel wound, Talbott pulled an injured navigator from the deadly blaze.
