ELSANOR, Alabama — Emmett Wilsey was just a teenager when he took advantage of an opportunity that would change his entire life.

The country was just recovering from the Great Depression when the young Florida native saw an advertisement for President Franklin Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps.

“It wasn’t much, but it was a job,” said Wilsey’s widow Thelma Middleton. “In those days, jobs were hard to come by and the CCC Camps were designed to create jobs.”

So, Wilsey moved from his home in Bay Springs, Fla., to Redland, Calif., to build roads in and around the famed Redwood Forest and for the next several months, would move to various places along the West Coast, building roads.

When Wilsey saw another opportunity, this time to enlist in the Marine Corps, he again jumped at the chance, went through basic training and was assigned aboard the USS Nevada.

Stationed out of San Francisco, the ship would spend months at sea before returning home to give the sailors some needed R & R and replenish supplies.

It was on one such excursion that the shipped was docked at Hickam Field in Honolulu that Wilsey would find himself smack in the middle of one of the most pivotal moments in U.S. history.

Wilsey was just 19 years old on Dec. 7, 1941, when the Nevada would become one of the first ships attacked by Japanese Zeros at Pearl Harbor and Wilsey would become one of the more than 1,000 servicemen injured during the attack.

“He never talked about it much,” Middleton said. “I know he lost several close friends in the attack and he was never able to work much after that.”

What little she did know was that the Nevada was docked at the mouth of the Harbor and when it was attacked, it made it very difficult for the other ships to escape.

Wilsey took a direct hit through his back and out his stomach from the blast.

“He literally had to hold his intestines in while they were taking him to the ambulance,” Middleton said. He also took a lot of shrapnel throughout his body, she said.

Wilsey spent several weeks recovering at the base in Honolulu before being transferred back to the mainland in San Francisco. After several months he was transferred from California to the Naval Hospital in Pensacola, where he would continue his recovery, a total of 18 months.

Through mutual family members, he was introduced to a young girl from just across the state line in Elsanor, Alabama, Thelma Foley.

“My dad was a farmer and I grew up on the farm around Styx River,” she said. “When there wasn’t any more land to farm in Styx River, he bought 120 acres across the river and when we were old enough to go to school, we moved onto our land here in order to be closer to Elsanor School.”

Wilsey was introduced to Middleton through her cousin, who was married to Wilsey’s cousin, she said.

“They would go to see him while he was in the hospital,” Middleton said. “When he got back on his feet, we were introduced and soon after began dating.”

Middleton was just 17 when the two married in 1946 and her father gave them 40 acres of land in which to live and raise a family. Together they would raise three girls on the farm in Elsanor. Eventually the family would grow to eight grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren, most of whom still live close to Middleton, who is now 84.

But in 1977, doctors found a malignant brain tumor and Wilsey was given six months to live. Three months later he died at the age of 55.

She would eventually marry Wilsey’s first cousin, Joe Middleton and the two were together for 17 years until his death in 1996.

Middleton was himself a Purple Heart recipient, injured during the Korean conflict. They had long received his purple heart for his service, but her first husband, Wilsey, had never received his.

“We knew he would have at least gotten a Purple Heart,” his widow said. “We had tried several times through the years and were always blocked at some point.”

And even though Wilsey never received his medals during his lifetime, it was something that his bride of 31 years always wanted to see accomplished.

Then a few months ago, new life was brought to the quest to finally get Wilsey’s service medals, more than 70 years following his injury.

“My daughter’s boyfriend heard the story and decided he would go to the (Naval) Hospital to see what he could do,” she said. “He was told that there was nothing they could do, but to try and contact our local Congressman’s office to see if they could help.”

So they contact Rep. Jo Bonner. After hearing their story, Bonner told the family that he would do what he could.

“He was so good to us throughout the whole process, writing letters to keep us updated on where they were,” she said. Eventually, Bonner would write to tell them that the archive where the records were kept had been destroyed and if they could provide proof of Wilsey’s service and his injury, the family could finally receive his medals.

Less than a week later, a package arrived in the mail and the long wait to receive Wilsey’s service medals was over.

But it was not just one medal. In addition to the Purple Heart, Wilsey also received four other medals recognizing his service, one medal signifying that Wilsey served during the Asiatic Pacific Campaign, one a World War II medal, one an American Campaign medal and finally an American Defense medal.

In the end, Middleton said, she has mixed emotions about receiving the medals.

“I feel good in a way, and sad in another way,” she said. “I am happy that we finally received the medals and he got the recognition that he deserved, but I am also said that he is not here to enjoy it. Everyone deserves to be recognized and feel good about what they’ve done. He was such a good man, he deserved to know that what he went through was appreciated.”