WWMT: Portage family accepts Purple Heart at Veterans Memorial Park for late WWII Veteran

Congressman Tim Walberg was in Portage Friday morning to present a local family with a posthumous Purple Heart Award on behalf of their family member.

The Burnham family gathered at the Veterans Memorial Park to accept the award in honor of Corporal Robert C. "Bob" Burnham, Sr., who served in the U.S. Army during WWII and was wounded in action.

Burnham died in 2005, but his grandson discovered about his injury through an ancestry website.

Burnham's son then reached out to make sure his father was awarded the proper recognition.

"I think there's tons of my dads out there that basically are going through the same thing," Robert Burnham Jr. said. "I think if there was a little research done by their children, they would find that their dad were heroes too."

The Burnham family also received a commemorative American flag that had been flown over the U.S. Capitol.