BONHAM, Tex. - After forty years of waiting, one local soldier was finally recognized and received medals for his service in the Vietnam War.

“I was just expecting to get it in the mail or something. This is way beyond expectation,” Roy Hughes says.

Even though four decades have gone by, Roy Hughes knew someday he would receive the Purple Heart he earned, and his family wanted to make sure he was recognized for his duties in Vietnam. They say Hughes is a humble man, not taking credit for his hard work in the Army.

“I do not think I even deserve such honors, but it is beautiful that people out there think I do deserve it," says Hughes.

So to make sure Hughes knew how much his family appreciated his service, they set up Saturday’s surprise awards ceremony; a ceremony he was honored to be part of.

"It just makes me feel like my country is not only recognizing me, but it's recognizing boys, gentlemen that were there. It's not just for me, it's for them," says Hughes.

Colonel Joe Henderson, a fellow Vietnam vet, presented the medals, including the Purple Heart. Henderson says it was painful that servicemen were not welcomed after Vietnam, but he's glad Vietnam vets are finally being recognized.

"It's kind of a long, deserved recognition,” says Henderson. “The vets deserve this."

Hughes says he promised his son that he would someday hand down the Purple Heart he earned so many decades ago, and today he fulfilled that promise. Thanks to the hard work of Hughes' wife Betty and niece Glenda, they worked tirelessly to organize the ceremony and to get the medals into Hughes' hand.

"We had to bury one of his brothers and all the medals were presented at the funeral. That’s not the time for soldiers to be rewarded,” says Glenda Spoon, Hughes’ niece. “Now's the time for them to be rewarded."

The Purple Heart isn't the only medal he's going to pass on. In honor of his fallen friends, he plans to place the rest of his medals on the Black Wall in Washington D.C., but he says that's only after he gets the chance to show them off a little.