CHICAGO — Six and a half decades ago, a young Chicago man witnessed the horrors of the Vietnam War. He earned two Purple Hearts and on Thursday his family, including his son-in-law WGN’s Patrick Elwood, along with the White Sox honored him for his service.
At the age of 18, Chicago-born and raised Frank Sawaski found himself in combat boots just outside Saigon.
Zawaski earned a Purple Heart that day before returning to the fields in Vietnam, where his platoon was in the middle of a VC base camp, where he would earn a second.
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Zawaski returned to Chicago where he married Joanell, his wife of 54 years. Together they had three daughters.
The close-knit family wanted Gramps to get the honor they felt he deserved, so when they heard the White Sox were honoring veterans at home games, they called him out.
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