Grateful family accepts Purple Heart for fallen vet
Posted at: 03/14/2013 11:00 PM | Updated at: 03/14/2013 11:56 PM
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It was a long time in the making. A Purple Heart was awarded tonight, posthumously.
Family members tell us Army sergeant first class Francis Graziosi was just 17 when he enlisted in the Army, asking his father to sign the papers.
They say he went missing in Vietnam when he was just 19.
His remains were later discovered, and in 2006 they were brought home.
Sergeant Graziosi's cousin, Alan Frisa, who also served in the Army, accepted the Purple Heart on his behalf at the ceremony in Gates tonight. Frisa remembers seeing his cousin for the last time in 1966. He says this medal is a great honor.
“This will definitely help the family now, cause its was something he deserved for a long long time. I’m ecstatic, I wish my other cousins were here today. But I will receive it for all my cousins and my cousin Francis,” said Frisa.
He says the Purple Heart will be displayed along with his cousin's other medals in his own office.
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