GREENBRIER, AR — Special recognition has finally arrived more than 70 years later for a central Arkansas veteran.
Army veteran Paul Hallum has enough medals from his service to go around.
“You can see, this a good conduct,” he explains.
And with every one earned from his time in WWII, there’s a story. But the new medals not yet in his shadowbox come from a small battle his family fought to get the 92-year-old a pair of hearing aids.
“I mailed the form out and months and months and months and we don’t hear anything,” said Hallum’s daughter Sue Dixon.
The Hallum family says to get help purchasing the hearing aids, they had to verify the private first class’s Purple Heart.
But when his daughter Sue received a letter about who will pay for her dad to hear, she couldn’t believe her eyes.
“Here comes this letter with all of these other awards,” she adds.
Back in 1973, Hallum’s family says a fire burned most of the paperwork about his time spent overseas. Because of the fire, records that show he was owed eight additional awards may have never been delivered to the Greenbrier soldier who wouldn’t have known otherwise.
“I didn’t think too much about the medals themselves,” he says.
But an envelope arriving earlier in the week gave this veteran his glory nearly 72 years later.
“Just thought another piece of mail,” says Hallum. “It’s been 70 years since I even thought about it.”
“When you see other people in the community recognize he’s a hero, it’s a feeling I will not soon forget,” says Dixon.
Hallum’s family says he is very humble to receive his awards and says his new hearing aids work great too.
Army veteran Paul Hallum has enough medals from his service to go around.
“You can see, this a good conduct,” he explains.
And with every one earned from his time in WWII, there’s a story. But the new medals not yet in his shadowbox come from a small battle his family fought to get the 92-year-old a pair of hearing aids.
“I mailed the form out and months and months and months and we don’t hear anything,” said Hallum’s daughter Sue Dixon.
The Hallum family says to get help purchasing the hearing aids, they had to verify the private first class’s Purple Heart.
But when his daughter Sue received a letter about who will pay for her dad to hear, she couldn’t believe her eyes.
“Here comes this letter with all of these other awards,” she adds.
Back in 1973, Hallum’s family says a fire burned most of the paperwork about his time spent overseas. Because of the fire, records that show he was owed eight additional awards may have never been delivered to the Greenbrier soldier who wouldn’t have known otherwise.
“I didn’t think too much about the medals themselves,” he says.
But an envelope arriving earlier in the week gave this veteran his glory nearly 72 years later.
“Just thought another piece of mail,” says Hallum. “It’s been 70 years since I even thought about it.”
“When you see other people in the community recognize he’s a hero, it’s a feeling I will not soon forget,” says Dixon.
Hallum’s family says he is very humble to receive his awards and says his new hearing aids work great too.
