DALLASTOWN, Pa. (WHTM) — A 100-year-old veteran in York County received his Purple Heart 80 years later.

“The Purple Heart means quite a bit,” Sergeant Harold “Bud” Pressel told abc27 News. “But I wasn’t sure I’d get it.

The World War II Veteran received the medal Wednesday at the American Legion Post 605 in Dallastown.

Regarding the ceremony, “this was a big surprise,” Pressel said. “So many people and then have the general present it, that was even bigger.”

Pressel grew up in York and enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force in 1943.

“And by early 1945 was also serving on the B-24 as a tail-gunner,” Major General David B. Lyons, Commander of the 15th Air Force based out of Sumter, South Carolina, said.

On Feb. 7, 1945, Pressel was on his third combat mission. His B-24 Liberator was shot down after a bombing run in Germany. He bailed from the aircraft and when he landed, he ruptured his left ear and was captured.

“There were some four or five Hungarian young guys came over and got me and picked me up,” Pressel said. “They really treated me good. They were nice young men.

Though, Pressel said “they took my watch and I didn’t get that back.”

A second Purple Heart was presented to the grandchildren of the late Major Richard Olsen.

“Though they never met in many ways, Major Olsen and Sergeant Pressel’s experiences are remarkably similar and it is fitting that we can honor them both here today,” Lyons said.

Olsen grew up in Chicago and enlisted in the Army.

On June 13, 1944, just a week after D-Day, he was flying his 15th combat mission, a bombing raid on Munich.

His plane was shot down by German fighters and he spent 11 months in the same Prisoner of War camp as Pressel.

Both were liberated on April 29, 1945.