(AP) — A Purple Heart and other medals have been presented to the former wife of a soldier slain during combat in World War II.

In a ceremony Monday at the Capitol in Lincoln, 89-year-old Helen Minarik was given the medals awarded to U.S. Army Pvt. Joe Alberico. The two married on June 10, 1944, and spent two weeks together before he left. He served with the 101st Airborne and dropped into the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden. He was killed on Oct. 4, 1944.

His widow married a World War II veteran, Bernard Minarik, in 1946. They lived in Omaha and raised four children. The children worked with the office of U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns to secure the medals so they could be presented to their mother.