RANGELEY – It took 56 years, but Jack Bates has finally been awarded his Purple Heart.

The 75-year-old veteran, who was wounded by shrapnel from a Japanese mortar round during World War II, received the medal last Sunday during a veterans program at his church.

Bates’ wife, Pilar, who chairs the local Republican committee, had met last year with U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, who arranged for the paperwork to go through.

Bates was 19 when he suffered his combat wound on Aug. 12, 1944, on Biak Island in New Guinea.

“We were trying to get to the airport on Biak,” he said. “The Japanese were trying to prevent us from getting there.

“Some of the fellows in my company got killed and wounded, but you don’t think about it, you keep on fighting,” Bates said. He said the mortar round hit a tree and exploded, raining shrapnel that felt like hot little needles.

Medics removed the shrapnel, and Bates returned to combat after treatment at a military hospital.

Bates said he has only himself to blame for not getting the Purple Heart until now.

His military papers noted that he was wounded in combat, but he said his only interest when he left the Army was making sure he got his “Lame Duck” pin showing he received an honorable discharge.

The presentation of the Purple Heart came as a shock, Bates said.

“I shook like a leaf in addition to shedding a few tears when I looked around and saw things for what they were, my son was up from Kentucky, and my daughter from Rangeley was there,” he said.

“I always knew I had the Purple Heart,” he said. “It’s nice to have the actual medal, but it’s not something you wear, you put it away, but I will wear the lapel button.”