It Took 39 Years:

Wayne Sufficool, an RF-4C crew chief during the Vietnam War, has received a Purple Heart for wounds he received in 1968. The former airman’s son and daughter got to witness the presentation ceremony at MacDill AFB, Fla., his last duty assignment. SrA. Patrice Clarke reports that on Feb. 19, 1968, during a mortar attack on Tan Son Nhut Air Base, shrapnel struck Sufficool in the right arm and the explosion from rounds hitting and igniting the aircraft he was working on shifted a tow vehicle onto to his legs. Another crew chief was able to release him. Sufficool says two earlier attempts to secure a Purple Heart failed, but he finally found a couple of eyewitnesses to the attack and his injuries.