Updated 04/06/2009 03:02 PM
Purple Heart awarded after 91 years
UTICA, N.Y. -- Ninety-one years after a Herkimer soldier was injured in World War I, he's posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.
In 1918, Private First Class Floyd Jackson was on patrol for his unit in France when the German Army released chlorine gas. Jackson warned his unit to put on their gas masks. By doing so, he inhaled the gas himself, but his actions saved the lives of the men in his unit. He had lung damage and was hospitalized and discharged in 1919.
On Monday, his daughters received his Purple Heart from Congressman Michael Arcuri.
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
"We wish it could've happened sooner, but I'm sure he's watching and we're so very proud of what he is or was. He was our dad," said his daughter Marilyn Card.
"Proud, very proud and I know he would be too," said his daughter Ruth Abele.
Private First Class Jackson died in 1980. He also received the World War I Victory Medal.