BLOOMFIELD - Friendship and memories, that's what these three Connecticut veterans have shared the last 60 years.
“I'm one day older than him, and he's two or three months older than I am!” retired Army sergeant Floyd Derick laughed while motioning to his two friends.
Richard Donahue, a retired Army sergeant first class, and retired corporal Luke Perleoni sat side-by-side, surrounded by photographs of their time in the military.
Donahue and Perleoni grew up together in Hartford.
They met Derick, after they were all drafted, on the bus from Hartford to Fort Devens in Massachusetts.
They eventually served together in Korea.
"Went over together and came home together, on the same boat,” said Donahue. “very close, ever since."
Wednesday was a special day for Derick, not only because it was Veterans Day, but because he's getting recognition he deserved long ago.
Senator Chris Murphy stopped by his home in Bloomfield, to deliver six service medals Derick never received.
Hi daughter pinned one of the medals on him while his family watched on, this veteran’s bravery and service as a medic, recognized.
"It's been a long time coming,” said Derick. “I guess I lived long enough to get them."
The medals were presented decades later, but with his family and his close friends, once again by his side.
"I'm glad it was done for Floyd, because he deserves it,” said Donahue. "It is not too late."
This all started when his family tried to get him a Purple Heart.
Derick was wounded in combat but never reported it because he says he was helping people who were worse off than him. He also didn’t want to be moved from his regiment.
Derick is originally from Canada, but was working in Hartford when he was drafted.
He was given the choice to leave the U.S. Army because of that, but he decided to stay and fight.
