In his distinguished career as a paratrooper, Robert Kliewer earned eight medals for military valor. However, a St. Louis fire destroyed his service records and he never received them.

Kliewer didn't speak much about his time in the service and figured the medals that he earned  were lost to time.

It was many years after the war, now married and with several children, that Kliewer's family stepped in to rectify the situation. They contacted then-U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Spokane, in 1996 with a query: Was there anything he could do to cut through the bureaucracy and paperwork?

Nethercutt assured them there was and helped the family cut through the red tape and military bureaucracy and, 51 years after he had earned the medals, was among those presenting the medals to Kliewer at a quiet ceremony at the Veteran's Affairs Hospital in Spokane.

An article in the Spokesman-Review, treasured by the family, shows a photo of Robert Kliewer receiving the awards from Nethercutt with his family gathered around.

Quiet during the ceremony, the reporter describes Kliewer as a modest hero who smiled during the cemetery but didn't speak beyond thanking the congressman for  his help.

It was only later, in speaking to the reporter, that Kliewer said how much it meant to received the medals he'd long considered lost.

"All these years of trying, I didn't expect to get them," Kliewer is quoted as telling the reporter. "This makes my day."

The eight medals Kliewer received in 1996 were roughly half of what he earned during his World War II service as a U.S. Army paratrooper. He'd received seven others before his records were destroyed in the fire.

Among the long-delayed medals that Kliewer earned? The Silver Star, the nation's second highest medal for valor; and the Bronze Star with oak cluster. Kliewer earned the Silver Star for his actions during a Feb. 8, 1945, attack on Luzon.

"With utter disregard for his personal safety," the citation reads, "Capt. Kliewer moved forward under heavy hostile fire and reorganized (the company’s) positions. This brave officer then remained forward and directed artillery fire on the enemy until the attack was repelled.”

A Bonners Ferry native, Kliewer was attending the University of Idaho and aiming for a degreed in forestry when World War II broke out. A second lieutenant in the Reserve Officer Training Corps, he joined the U.S. Army in June 1942 at Ft. George Wright in Spokane and  was sent to Camp Robinson in Little Rock, Arkansas, before heading to Ft. Benning in Georgia for officer and parachute training.

Kliewer would be sent to New Guinea, Leyte, Luzon and Japan — all with the 511th Parachute Infantry of the 11th Airborne Division. He would be among the troops taking part in the 30-day crossing of Leyete, including the battle of Mount Mahonag; the air drop on Tugatay Ridge, the assault on Nichols Field and the liberation of Pasay and southern Manila as well as serving in Japan.

He would be promoted to first lieutenant, followed by a battlefield promotion to captain. He would receive a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and the Asiatic-Pacific Service Medal with three Bronze Stars, among other awards and honors.

"As Dad got older, he would talk more and more about it," Kliewer said. "We got him to open up a few times but he kind of kept it corked in a bottle a lot."

Discharged from the Army in early 1946, Kliewer would return home to Bonners Ferry and finished his degree. He would marry his sweetheart, Elizabeth "Betty" Joice, begin a career as a contractor in Spokane, and raise a family that would grow to five children and nine grandchildren. They would frequently travel to Bonners Ferry where several family members still live, stopping a favorite haunts in Sandpoint for breakfast or lunch.

"He loved this area," Shook said of her father's determination to return home to North Idaho. "He loved Bonners Ferry and we would go to visit his family pretty often."

He was proud of his service, but it wasn't until many years afterward that her father would speak of the war, Patty Shook said.

"When he finally told us the story of when they were trapped, he cried," Shook said of the incident which earned Kliewer the Silver Star. "He lost a lot of his men that day."

Shook and her family, including daughters Katelyn and Laurie Shook who make up the renowned indie band, The Shook Twin, remember Kliewer as not just Dad and Granddad but as a hero and are thrilled he finally received the medals he'd earned.

They think about him and his service, especially around Veterans Day.

"He gave so much," Shook said. "This was a horrible war and it took a lot from him but he managed to deal with it pretty well and made us proud to be Americans."