OKC man receives Purple Heart after 55 years

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- Fifty-five years after being injured during World War Two, Jack Blanchard of Oklahoma City has been awarded the Purple Heart.

The pilot says it took him 50 years to apply for the medal, and it took the Army another five years to decide he had earned it.

Blanchard injured his back on June Tenth, 1945, when he bailed out of the cargo plane he was flying. He says he was transporting supplies to American troops in China when the engines of the plane quit while over the Himalaya Mountains.

Blanchard was awarded several other medals for his service, including the Bronze Star.