Robert Fate served in World War II and in September 1945, his commander at the time, Lt. Col. J.J. Carusone, recommended Fate be awarded the Bronze Star. But after the war, the paperwork got lost, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
Retired Col. Fate died at age 94 in 2013, when his children found the award recommendation stowed away in his records. They decided to present their father's case to the Army.
Last month, Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., presented the Bronze Star to Fate's three children in a ceremony at the New Mexico Veterans Memorial in Albuquerque.
"This would have meant a whole lot to him," Dick Fate, Robert's son, told the Albuquerque Journal.
Fate retired in 1963 after serving 22 years with the Army. He graduated from West Point in 1940, fought against Nazi Germany, led an attack to secure a crossing of the Danube River and conducted meticulous battle planning and execution, according to the news report.
He was executive officer of the 27th Tank Battalion in April 1945 when the unit led an attack to secure a river crossing.
Fate's skill in waging the battle led Carusone to recommend then-Maj. Fate for the Bronze Star.
"During this battle, Maj. Fate continually executed the details of the plan so that throughout the entire battle, we had artillery fires and fires of our close-support weapons at all times," Carusone wrote in the recommendation.
Dick Fate said in the Journal report that his father "made it clear to me that the one thing that was really important to him was being a good soldier … He somehow didn't think that it had been a particularly successful career. That kind of broke my heart."
Robert Fate's daughter, Nancy Reddish added, "We know how much this would have meant to my father."
