Willie Lewis, chairman of the West Virginia Veterans Coalition, receives a Purple Heart medal from Woody Williams, Marine Corps veteran and Medal of Honor recipient, as his wife, Della Powell Lewis (left) stands with him on stage during a reception Thursday evening at the West Virginia Culture Center in Charleston.
The Purple Heart should have been awarded to Lewis in 1953, but the paperwork was misplaced. Lewis, a veteran of the Vietnam and Korean wars and U.S. Army sergeant, was held as a Prisoner of War in Korea in 1953.
The reception, hosted by U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., also included a welcome to U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald, who is visiting from Washington D.C. to tour multiple locations in West Virginia.