Local veteran gets surprise visit from two congressmen

Local veteran gets surprise visit from two congressmen

-- we'll tell you what town and surprised him.

Newswatch 12's samantha didion sat in on that surprise visit.

Sam says: "this is what's left of a korean war veteran's mobile home after the almeda fire.

Although some of his little trinkets did survive the fire, some of memorabilia from his time in the service did not."

This includes one of his most prized possessions-- his congressional record that he received from representative greg walden in d-c last year.

This record was from the honor flight -- one of bromstead's most cherished experiences.

Greg: "now she's tattling on you a little bit here john.

She said even employees at costco if there's an opportunity to share about his honor flight experience, john would do so."

Bromstead's grand daughter decided to call the congressional office to see if there was any way of getting a replacement of the record.

Representative walden said the call made him realize how many veterans lost important material in the fires -- in an effort to help the veterans that lost everything, representative walden is working to connect veterans to resources for document replacement.

Walden says: "if you're a veteran in southern oregon, or anywhere in oregon, and your medals, your commendations, your paper work went up in flames, we want to help you recover from that loss."

Representative walden says to reach out to the congressional office and the staff will work to issue official copies.

For bromstead, representative walden and congressmen steve scalise decided to come out to his home themselves and present him with a copy of the record.

But that wasn't all-- steve scalise: "we wanted to also reestablish something you lost in the fire and that is-- you had a flag that you were awarded.

We had this flag flown over the united state capital.

I want to present this to you in honor of your service to our country."

Members of the honor flight also brought gifts for bromstead, including a jacket, gift bag, and a check.

Bromstead says this celebration came just in time for his 90th birthday coming up later this month and the navy's birthday being today.

John bromstead: "i hope everyone in their lifetime has a day like this."

Sam says: " john was surrounded by friends and