Photo Provided Beth Ostrowski Hundman pins the Purple Heart on her father, Chet Ostrowski, as her brothers Eric Ostrowski and Paul Ostrowski look on.

CLARKSBURG — Chester E. “Chet” Ostrowski of Parkersburg has received his Purple Heart — 63 years after being wounded by enemy fire in Korea.

Ostrowski received a letter from the U.S. Army on Sept. 22 stating he had been awarded a Purple Heart for wounds he suffered during the Korean War in 1953.

On Nov. 26 at the River Oaks, a long- and short-term care center in Clarksburg, where he is staying, Ostrowski received his Purple Heart as family, friends and officials looked on.

“It was great,” Ostrowski said recently of receiving his Purple Heart. Ostrowski said he was exceptionally proud to get the military award, calling it a humbling experience.

“It was more than I expected,” Ostrowski said, adding those involved “made it ceremonial.” He was happy that family and friends were able to attend the emotional event.

Photo Provided Chet Ostrowski is congratulated by Justin Ray, regional coordinator for Sen. Joe Manchin. Ray read a letter sent by the senator to Ostrowski and Bernie Lyons.

Among those attending were members of American Legion Post 15 of Parkersburg, in which Ostrowski is a member, and the Post’s Color Guard. Bill Shepherd, Post 15 commander, and Bernie Lyons, Ostrowski’s friend and a Marine, spoke during the ceremony.

Beth Ostrowski Hundman pinned the Purple Heart on her father as her brothers Eric Ostrowski and Paul Ostrowski looked on.

Justin Ray, regional coordinator for Sen. Joe Manchin, read a letter from the senator to Ostrowski and Lyons, congratulating them on their military service and  efforts.

Lyons of Vienna led the effort to get Ostrowski his Purple Heart.

The effort began more than three years ago after Ostrowski told Lyons he was missing military service ribbons.

Photo Provided A cake presented to Chet Ostrowski by the staff of River Oaks.

Lyons asked Ostrowski where his Purple Heart was for service in Korea. Ostrowski told Lyons he never received his Purple Heart.

This sent Lyons in motion to not only find Ostrowski’s missing ribbons but also the Purple Heart he deserved but never received.

Lyons obtained the five ribbons, or medals, for Ostrowski — a Korean Service Medal with two bronze service stars, a United Nations Service Medal and medals from the president of South Korea — but the Purple Heart proved more elusive.

Until recently, the U.S. Department of the Army had no record that Ostrowski was wounded by enemy fire during the Korean War. In fact, the U.S. Department of the Army at first denied Lyons’ request for Ostrowski’s Purple Heart in August 2015.

Part of the problem was that there was another Chester E. Ostrowski, a private from Minnesota, who the U.S. Army had listed as a casualty in Korea in 1950, Lyons noted. Chester E. Ostrowski, originally from Toronto, Ohio, and now of Parkersburg, did not show up in the list of injured servicemen from the Korean War, Lyons said.

Photo Provided Members of American Legion Post 15 who went to Clarksburg to see Chet Ostrowski receive a Purple Heart are, from left, Stu Bennett; Marianne Bennett; Chet Ostrowski; Bill Shepherd, commander of American Legion Post 15; Ray Fought, Color Guard commander, and Bernie Lyons.

Also complicating the case of Ostrowski’s missing Purple Heart was that the records of many U.S. servicemen were lost in a fire at a storage warehouse in St. Louis in 1973, Lyons said.

Lyons corresponded with the U.S. Army in trying to get a Purple Heart for Ostrowski. He had Ostrowski’s war records.

Ostrowski, a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army at the time, was wounded in the left shoulder by either a gunshot or a shrapnel fragment while standing on the back of his tank in Korea on Feb. 18, 1953. Ostrowski was a tank commander with the 14th  Tank Company, 25th Infantry Division in the U.S Army.

“I remember the back of my shirt was soaking wet,” Ostrowski said. Another soldier standing nearby told Ostrowski his shirt was full of blood.

Ostrowski was first treated for the left shoulder wound at the 44th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Korea. He was later transferred to the Swedish Red Cross Hospital in Pusan, Korea, where he remained in February and March of 1953, according to records.

Ostrowski returned to his tank unit in Korea before receiving an honorable discharge in July 1953, after completing one year, 10 months and 15 days of active military service.

In its September letter, the Army Board for Correction of Military Records stated, after looking at the evidence presented by Lyons, that Ostrowski’s Department of the Army records would be corrected from the 2015 decision and Ostrowski would receive a Purple Heart.

Ostrowski, who is retired from the insurance business, said he appreciates Lyons’ efforts on his behalf.