73 years later, Minnesotan gets Purple Heart

Wayne Sundberg was drafted into the Army in 1942 and served as a B26 turret gunner before being shot down behind enemy lines and captured by German forces in 1944.

Sundberg sustained shrapnel injuries and was held as a prisoner of war before Soviet Troops liberated him and the rest of his flight group at the end of the war.

Now 93, the Minnesota native received a Purple Heart medal Wednesday from U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, whose office helped Sundberg's family secure the medal. His service records were destroyed in a fire in 1973.

Klobuchar pinned the Purple Heart decoration on Sundberg at a ceremony at the Veterans Services Building in St. Paul Wednesday morning.

Military officials called the decoration long overdue.