97-year-old WWII veteran finally awarded long-overdue Victory Medal

LAKE COUNTY, Ill. — On the grounds of Old Fort Sheridan, a military veteran finally got his just dues.

At 97 years old, it’s an honor native Chicagoan Arnold Flitman thought would never come—being awarded the Victory Medal promised to him after serving in World War II.

“It feels very nice,” Flitman said.

As seen on a WGN-TV report from earlier this year, Flitman said he was going through some memorabilia with his son when they discovered that he never received his Victory Medal.

“I saw it on my papers, but I didn’t pay any attention, and then [my son] Mark looked at the paper and said, ‘You were supposed to get a Victory Medal,” Flitman told WGN News in February.

Almost 80 years ago, at 17 and just days away from his Senn High School graduation, Flitman joined the Navy. After completing boot camp at Great Lakes, Flitman didn’t receive orders to deploy as the year was 1945 and the war was ending.

After getting an honorable discharge from the Navy, Flitman was drafted into the Army.

“They didn’t send me overseas. Nothing. They sent me to cooks’ and bakers’ school,” Flitman said in February. “And then I was a cook. I was assigned to Fort Sheridan.”

To get his dad what he deserved, Mark Flitman began the online process of trying to procure the Victory Medal but found it all too confusing. That’s when he contacted WGN.

After the original story’s airing, WGN reached out to Flitman’s congressman, Brad Schneider, who, along with his team, bypassed the red tape to procure the military veteran’s medal.

“We’re a grateful nation. Thank you for both tours of service in both the Army and Navy,” Schneider said.

By his side to see the decades-in-the-making moment come to fruition was Flitman’s longtime wife, Edzie, in addition to loved ones from California.

For his part, the great American told WGN he was very thankful for the positive outcome.

“WGN said, ‘We’re going to get this medal,'” he said with a smile. “They were very persistent and they got it.”

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