Medals returned to family of Vietnam soldier

GLADSTONE (AP) - A western Missouri family has finally received the medals a loved one earned in Vietnam, thanks to the persistence of an Alabama man.

Sgt. Steve Cummins was 20 years old when he died in an ambush while pulling wounded men from the battlefield.

The medals along with letters describing Cummins' bravery had been stashed in a storage unit in Alexander City, Ala.

A man who bought the unit found them and worked with an Alabama TV station to find Cummins' survivors. On Thursday, they were delivered to Cummins' 88-year-old mother, Betty Cummins, in Gladstone.

The Cummins family hopes for a chance to thank the Alabama man personally. They believe the medals may have been placed in storage by relatives of Steve Cummins' widow, who died in 2002.

Information from: KMBC-TV, http://www.kmbc.com