Santa Fe man finally receives his Bronze Star
World War II vet didn’t realize he had it coming
SANTA FE — It was a long time coming, but retired Staff Sgt. Dennis Ferk of the 164th infantry division of the North Dakota Army National Guard finally received the Bronze Star he earned during World War II.
“I didn’t realize I had it coming,” the 97-yearold Ferk said after the medal — as well as three others — were pinned to the lapel of his uniform during a ceremony at the Santa Fe Vet Center Friday afternoon.
“Yeah, you didn’t get them all,” said Maj. Gen. Kenneth Nava of the New Mexico Nation- al Guard told Ferk, a Santa Fe resident for 60 years who also wore a Purple Heart on his chest.
“We’re making it right — some 75 years later, but we’re making it right.”
Nava later said it’s not unusual for World War II veterans to not receive all the medals they earned.
“If you think about it, millions of people were getting discharged after the war, so it’s quite common that not everyone got the medals they were deserving of,” he said.
In addition to the Bronze Star, which is awarded to members of the U.S. military for heroic or meritorious achievements or service in a combat zone, Ferk also received the American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.
Ferk enlisted in the North Dakota National Guard fresh out of high school in 1939. After the U.S. was drawn into the war by the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, his unit was activated and deployed to guard the San Francisco Bay, and later the coast of Oregon, from enemy attack. His regiment was later sent to New Caledonia in the South Pacific for five months of combat training, then to Guadalcanal as an emergency reinforcement for the First Marine division.
“We were there to drive (the Japanese) out and off the island,” said Ferk, who’s still called “Sarge” by his friends.
The 164th was later shipped to the Fiji Islands where he earned his Purple Heart when a bomb exploded near him while he was guarding a supply depot, injuring his left eye.
When the war ended, Ferk returned to North Dakota, got married and was hired by the U.S. Department of Transportation. A job transfer brought he and his wife Dorothy to New Mexico in the late 1950s.
Ferk probably deserves a medal for what he went through a few years ago when he was the victim of scam artists. That case was concluded just this month when the couple that was serving as his caretakers were sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay him more than $120,000 in restitution.
Ferk now lives with his daughter, Denise, in Santa Fe.