In a short ceremony at the Cleveland Grays Armory, Senator Sherrod Brown presented a Purple Heart and other medals to the family of Larry Eisenbraun, a Navy medic from Boardman, in Mahoning County, who died in the Vietnam War.
Brown said Eisenbraun had just returned from more than a week on patrol when he volunteered to go out on another.
"A few days later, the patrol came under fire, severely wounding several Marines," Brown said. "Larry was killed while shielding a fellow Marine with his own body."
Eisenbraun was 20, the oldest of seven siblings. His younger brother, TJ Eisenbraun, and his wife Lori, accepted the medals on his behalf. TJ Eisenbraun said family members had met the man his brother saved, who had struggled with the experience.
Larry Eisenbraun’s family believes his actions merit a higher award, the Silver Star. Senator Brown’s staff helped them with research, and found the official records they needed were missing. But they were able to obtain the Purple Heart and other medals.