WWII Veteran Received Purple Heart Earned 70 Years Ago

​On Wednesday, July 11, 2018 KDVA Commissioner Brigadier General Benjamin Adams presented WWII Veteran and former POW Staff Sgt Dudley Riley the medal the 94-year-old earned but never received. He served in the North Africa Campaign and was captured there.
 
Riley, a resident of the Joseph “Eddie” Ballard Western Kentucky Veterans Center in Hanson, wrote a book about his experiences before, during and after the war, titled Farm Boy, Soldier, Daddy: The Journey That Led Him to Where He Is Today.
 
KDVA Veterans Benefits Field Representative Johnny Allen helped Riley obtain the medal he never received, and arranged for BG Adams to present the medal to Riley in a surprise ceremony today.  There was standing room only for this honorable occasion.