Medals Surprise Distinguished Veteran

SALT LAKE CITY ---  The mystery behind a package of seven medals that a World War II veteran received in the mail has been solved.

A federal official says 93-year-old Tom Harrison of Salt Lake City requested the medals in April as part of a larger application for military records. Harrison doesn't remember requesting them, and was surprised when they showed up in the mail with no note of explanation.

His story attracted attention after a story by the Associated Press over the Veterans Day weekend.

Niels Zussblatt of the National Personnel Records Center says Harrison earned the seven medals, as well as two other medals being shipped separately, while serving in the Philippines, where he survived the Bataan Death March and more than three years as a prisoner-of-war.