DUNEDIN, Fla. — A decades-old mistake has been made right.
On Monday evening for National Purple Heart Day, a Tampa Bay area family received a Purple Heart medal in honor of their loved one who died on the battlefield in World War II.
Sissy Nielsen is 97 years old and never thought this day would come.
"It is truly, truly a blessing," said Nielsen. "It's a miracle."
Nielsen's brother, Otto Broker, was just a teenager when he enlisted during World War II.
"He was given the choice to go to officer training school or be in the Army and join the infantry," said Nielsen. "He said, if I'm going to fight, it will be in the infantry."
But in August 1944, when he was just 21 years old, Otto Broker was killed fighting in France.
While awarded a Purple Heart, his family said they never received the medal. It was something the family accepted, until Nielsen's nephew, Dan Smith, learned about it a few years ago and made it his personal mission to get his uncle the long-overdue Purple Heart medal.
It was a task that took Smith more than two years, with him hitting dead ends until he connected with the Military Order of the Purple Heart Chapter JFK-1963 in Dunedin. Mal Clingan is the Chapter's Commander.
"They received all the paperwork but the family never received the medal," explained Clingan. "So I went through the process of validating everything and we got the medal."
Monday, nearly eight decades after Otto Broker's death, he was honored at a ceremony at Dunedin's Purple Heart Park, and his family was presented his Purple Heart medal.
"It's a reminder that everybody should live a life worthy of their sacrifice," said Clingan.
"What does a Purple Heart mean to me?" said Sissy Nielsen. "It means everything that my brother gave for that. He gave up his whole life."
The Dunedin Parks & Recreation Department provides a special opportunity to pay tribute to a Purple Heart recipient through the Purple Heart Commemorative Brick Program. By completing this form and donating $100, you can have a brick engraved to commemorate a Purple Heart recipient which will then become a part of the "Walk of Honor" at Purple Heart Park.
National Purple Heart Day is observed on Aug. 7 each year and is a time for Americans to remember and honor the brave men and women who represented our country and were either wounded on the battlefield or paid the ultimate sacrifice with their lives.