By Greg Grisolano

ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com

William “Bill” Pulliam lifted himself out of his wheelchair and stood with the aid of a cane as Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt pinned a medal to his chest on Memorial Day.

The 68-year-old retired Air Force master sergeant said it was the pride he feels in being a serviceman that gave him the strength to stand up when he received the award, which commemorates his service in Vietnam.

“I can’t stand up for very long at a time,” he said after the ceremony. “But I don’t like to sit down to receive a medal.”

An aircraft mechanic, Pulliam served in the Air Force from 1956 until 1980, when he received a medical discharge for multiple sclerosis.

He lives in Carthage with his wife, Barbara.

Pulliam was among 14 Vietnam War veterans from Southwest Missouri who were honored by Blunt during a Memorial Day ceremony. About 35 friends and family members of the honorees attended Monday’s ceremony at the Missouri National Guard Armory in Joplin.

Blunt, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., has enacted several pieces of legislation to honor the service of Missouri veterans, including the Vietnam Veterans Medallion program.

The award is open to veterans who served in active duty for the U.S. military between Feb. 28, 1961, and May 7, 1975, and who have been legal residents of Missouri since Aug. 28, 2006, or were legal residents at the time they entered or were discharged from the service or at the time of death.

Lynn Stover, another veteran who received the medal during Monday’s ceremony, said he was thinking about his best friend, Delbert L. Trube, a Marine who was killed in 1966 in Vietnam.

“It’s tough. He was one of the first Marines killed in ’66,” Stover said, overcome with emotion. “He and I grew up together, as best friends. I just miss him.”

Stover, 60, of Cassville, served as a machinist’s mate in the Navy.

His wife, Janet, said the honor for her husband and other Vietnam-era veterans was overdue.

“I’m just proud of him and proud of everybody,” she said. “I’m proud to be an American. It was long overdue, but well worth it.”