UPDATE, Jan. 4, 2018: The family of Francis Byrne has confirmed that the WWII veteran, who received his Purple Heart on Dec. 14, died. He passed away Jan. 3, peacefully and content, after receiving his belated medal.
MANCHESTER, NH – Francis Byrne survived the Battle of the Bulge, but a land mine in Belgium nearly cost him his life. His injuries were serious but never documented properly – the officer tasked with recording his Purple Heart-worthy heroics was killed the day after Byrne was injured.
His Purple Heart lost, to paperwork and time.
All that was finally remedied on Dec. 14 thanks to an intervention by U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who was able to arrange a ceremony at the Elliot Hospital where Byrne, 94, finally received his Purple Heart before a large crowd of well-wishers.
Although 72 years late, the medal was right on time for Byrne, who has been diagnosed with untreatable cancer.
Byrne served in the Army from 1943 until 1946. He was wounded in Belgium when a fellow soldier stepped on a land mine. That soldier lost his foot in the explosion, and Byrne got shrapnel in his leg, which remains to this day.
The brief ceremony was held at the Elliot Hospital where Sgt. Major of the Army Daniel A. Dailey and NH Adjutant General, Brigadier Gen. David J. Mikolaities, presented the Purple Heart to Byrne.
“He really is an American hero,” Shaheen said. “He personifies the greatest generation.”
