A New Hartford Veteran who died last year finally received his service awards from his time in Vietnam. He earned eight awards, including one silver star and one bronze star. As our Andrew Sorensen tells us John Shaw's medals took more than thirty years to deliver.

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NEW HARTFORD, N.Y.-- More than thirty years after John Shaw came back from two Navy tours in Vietnam, his service medals arrived.

Congressman Richard Hanna awarded eight service medals to Shaw's family on Saturday.

Where were his medals all of that time?

His family never noticed that they weren't there until after his death last year.

"When John died, [a friend] wanted to review and look at John's service medals, and we didn't have them," his widow, Delores Shaw, said.

Dolores, and her son Mike decided they would like the medals John earned to remember him.

So we decided to contact Congressman Hanna's office," she explained. "Because Mike, our son... really would like to have them.

John's family never heard him mention any awards or medals. He rarely even talked about the war.

My father was always very humble," Mike Shaw recalled. "He didn't really like to talk about himself. He liked to talk about his family, about his community, about the things that he was involved in, but never about himself."

"It was just important for him to be honored for what he brought, not just to the country, to the community, but to the family, to me. He deserved every bit of this recognition."

John was bringing what he could to the community. So much that Vietnam rarely came up. He didn't go to a reunion of the Seabees, or Construction Battalion, until the year before he died.

"He was busy," said Delores. "We were busy raising our son, and he had other commitments.

John was close with his unit in the Navy, and that experience shaped his idea of commitment and community.

He was on several boards and committees, and he was even a little league baseball coach.

"It was his team, it was a unit. Our family was a unit, our community is a unit, I mean everybody is there to help one another," Mike said.

Congressman Hanna spoke to that commitment while presenting the medals, "He is sorely missed, but his memory will not be forgotten."