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AUBURN, N.Y. (AP) — An 89-year-old World War II veteran who survived a plane crash over France seven decades ago has finally received his Purple Heart.
Richard Faulkner received the award yesterday in Auburn, N.Y., for wounds received on March 18, 1944, when he was 19.
Faulkner was aboard a B-17 bomber en route to Germany in fog when it crashed into another plane over northern France. The B-17 was sliced in two and everyone died but Faulker, who parachuted to safety from the gun turret.
Faulkner initially declined the Purple Heart because he was so devastated by the tragedy.
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