DALTON, Ga. — Near the end of his time in the Army in 1946, Clarence Richardson came down with pneumonia. He was ready to go home after serving during World War II as an anti-tank gunner.

As he was preparing to leave, he was told his medals from the War Department had been lost and would have to be re-shipped. He said Monday that if he had stayed in another week he would have gotten his medals.

On Monday at the Dalton office of U.S. Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ranger, the 91-year-old Richardson finally got his medals. Graves and state Sen. Chuck Payne, R-Dalton, presented Richardson with his service medals and his Bronze Star, which is given for heroic service.

In addition to the Bronze Star, Richardson was presented with a Good Conduct medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign medal, Combat Infantry Badge — 1st Award, Expert Rifle badge, World War II Victory medal and the Honorable Service lapel button.

“Of course, I didn’t grumble about it,” Richardson said of not getting the medals previously. “I just done what they told me to do. That was all you could do.”

Graves said that commitment to duty is part of what makes Richardson worthy of being presented with the medals.

“You are a hero,” Graves said. “One thing we know is our veterans are very humble. Even with their humility, they are heroes and we want to properly recognize them.”

Richardson is also part of local history that has recently been celebrated by the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society. Richardson was a participant in the Crown Mill Baseball League in the late 1940s and 1950s.

Dalton State College history professor Thomas Veve recently interviewed Richardson about his memories of the league and Veve learned Richardson had never received his medals. He contacted Payne, who worked with Graves’ office to have the medals delivered.

“Now, you were an anti-tank crewman,” Graves said, before playing the straight man to Richardson. “Does that mean you are anti tanks or do you just blow them up?”

“No, we just blow them up,” Richardson said to laughter from his family members and others. “We had a three-inch gun we pulled, and carried our ammunition from a big truck and pulled that gun. We did a lot of shooting over the Rhine River. Did a lot of shooting there.

“I don’t know what we hit,” he said. “They had an airplane up in the air telling the sergeant how many turns to shoot it. The only thing about it was you had shells busting over your head while you was doing it.”

“Because there is probably an anti-anti-tank person on the other side and that’s called the tank,” Graves said.

After the ceremony, Graves said honoring veterans is one of the best perks of being a congressman.

“It never gets old, and to be able to share with the members of this generation is always a thrill for me, to spend time with people who did so much for our country,” he said.