He said he didn't really push the matter because it really didn't mean that much to me. But his family encouraged him to keep trying and a veterans service office in Ashland helped him finally get his due. Part of the problem was that many army service records were destroyed in a fire in St. Louis in 1970.

The Times-Gazette article quotes Ross as saying about his service: "I just tried to stay alive when I was in the service. I didn't consider that any of us guys were heroes or anything like that. You just wanted to stay alive."

Ross Cody (256/347) was featured in the Veterans Day issue of the Ashland (OH) Times-Gazette because, after 60 years, he had just received eight medals he was awarded during his service with the 101st Airborne Division in World War II.

Those medals included a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star awarded for his participation in D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge. During the war Ross also served in Italy and southern France.

Why did it take so long to get the medals? Ross said that because he was