69-Year-Old Vietnam Vet Receives Second Purple Heart
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Some 46 years after Jake Aning had his first Purple Heart pinned to his fatigues in Vietnam, Aning has received his second.
The Argus Leader reports that the 69-year-old Navy veteran received the medal recently in U.S. Senator John Thune's Sioux Falls office.
Aning says he served his country and he did it with pride. He says if his country would ask him again, he would go.
Aning became overcome by emotion when Thune presented him with the Purple Heart and a Navy Achievement Medal with a combat "V." Thune thanked Aning and read a record of service, including 181 combat patrols and eight occasions of engaging the enemy.
Aning grew up on a farm in Lyon County, Iowa, and joined the Navy Reserve to work in payroll.
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