RIO RANCHO, N.M. (KRQE) – When Joseph Radosevich died 40 years ago, his children and his wife did not know much about his time in the service. “My dad was in the Navy in World War Two and he worked for the federal government for many years. He retired, and he died of cancer at 59,” said Fred Radosevich, Joseph’s son.

After doing some research, Fred was shocked by what he learned about his dad, “Found out he joined the Navy when he was 17, he was in San Diego in boot camp on the day Pearl Harbor was bombed.”

His dad served from 1941 through 1952 on three ships including the USS Hancock and was involved in various battles across the Phillippines and Japan. “Which was torpedoed and bombed..he witnessed over a hundred fellow sailors get killed all before the age of 21 and he never talked about any of that,” said Radosevich.

His dad was a decorated war hero. “Amazing….he never said a word about it,” said Radosevich.

Radosevich reached out to Senator Ben Ray Lujan who worked with the Navy to get the service medals. “To say…we’ve learned a whole lot more about the service of our father who served in World War Two and there’s some of these medals that were never awarded to dad,” said Sen. Lujan

“There’s 13 clusters for the different battles they were in in the four years…also awarded military awards from the Philippines because liberated the Philippines,” said Radosevich.

Sen. Lujan presented the medals and a letter from President Joe Biden to Radosevich’s widow Griselda to help her celebrate her 100th birthday in Rio Rancho. My daughter was three years when my dad passed away, my son never knew him..means a lot, to see what he went through at the age of 17, I don’t think most people could comprehend that,” said Radosevich.

Senator Lujan said his favorite work in Congress is case work like this. He says New Mexicans can reach out to his office for challenges with anything federal including Social Security and the IRS.