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Riverside veteran to get WWII medals
Joe C. Denton to receive Bronze Star, Purple Heart after waiting 60 years
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Joe C. Denton has waited more than 60 years for six medals he earned during World War II, including the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for meritorious achievement.
The 82-year-old Riverside man will finally receive them during a ceremony today, May 10, at VFW Post 657.
Joe Denton, right, will finally receive the medals he earned serving as an Army private first class in World War II. Mark Conrad, left, VFW Post 657 senior vice commander and service officer, helped Denton get the belated awards. Denton will receive the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, Army Good Conduct Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, and Army of Occupation Medal. Denton will be officially honored during a ceremony Saturday, May 10, at the post, 637 Spinning Rd., Riverside."It means a lot," Denton said. "I knew I'd get them some day."
Denton enlisted in the Army in 1944 and was assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 385th Infantry Regiment of the 76th Infantry Division.
The young private first class fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He was wounded in Germany in April 1945 after a German rocket landed in his foxhole.
Mark Conrad, 46, the post's senior vice commander, contacted the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis on Denton's behalf.
It verified Denton had earned the Combat Infantryman Badge, plus other medals including the Army Good Conduct Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal and Army of Occupation Medal.
Scott Levins, the center's assistant director for military records, said the office approved requests for 40,835 medals in the last six months.
Most of the medals replace those that have been lost over time or to soldiers like Denton who never received them.
"For the veterans, it gives them something tangible to leave to their family after they're gone," Conrad said.
It's also rewarding for records center technicians who play a part in honoring the aging veterans.
"We get a lot of unsolicited thank you's because it's so meaningful to the people writing us," Levins said.
