HARRISBURG (TNS) — Back in the post-World War II years, when then-little kid Walter J. “Joe” Marm Jr. lived with his family behind the hospital in Washington in Western Pennsylvania, he provided his neighbors with a service: waking up at 6 a.m. and delivering the Post-Gazette door-to-door.

Years later, he provided a larger group of neighbors — U.S. citizens — with a different service. On Nov. 14, 1965, as an Army platoon leader in the Ia Drang Valley region of Vietnam, he deliberately exposed himself to enemy fire to help his platoon, charged across open ground, hurled grenades into an enemy position and continued fighting after he was severely wounded.

On Wednesday, he appeared in the state Capitol as the only living Pennsylvania recipient of the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award. A retired Army colonel now living with his wife, Deborah, in North Carolina, Col. Marm appeared at a ceremony that recognized Pennsylvania’s Medal of Honor recipients and called attention to efforts to designate U.S. Route 20 as the National Medal of Honor Highway.

Col. Marm, 82, spoke fondly of his years in southwestern Pennsylvania. He grew up in Washington and had three sisters. His father was a state trooper who later became chief of Washington County detectives.

Col. Marm remembered the early years of the Pony League, a youth baseball organization founded in Washington that improved the skills of players who had aged out of Little League.

“All my family are gone from Washington now, but I still have close ties with people in Washington,” Col. Marm said.

He attended Duquesne University, graduated in 1964, and entered military service immediately afterward. The battle in Vietnam in which Col. Marm — then a first lieutenant and platoon leader — was wounded was detailed in the book “We Were Soldiers Once … and Young,” written by Lt. Col. Harold Moore, the battalion commander.

A movie, “We Were Soldiers” featuring Mel Gibson, was released in 2002. Col. Marm was wounded on the first day of the three-day battle.

Portions of the citation tied to his medal read: “For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty … His company was moving through the valley to relieve a friendly unit surrounded by an enemy force of estimated regimental size. 1st Lt. Marm led his platoon through withering fire … Realizing that his platoon could not hold very long, and seeing four enemy soldiers moving into his position, he moved quickly under heavy fire and annihilated all four. Then, seeing that his platoon was receiving intense fire from a concealed machine gun, he deliberately exposed himself to draw its fire … Quickly, disregarding the intense fire directed on him and his platoon, he charged 30 meters across open ground and hurled grenades into the enemy position, killing some of the eight insurgents manning it. Although severely wounded, when his grenades were expended, armed with only a rifle, he continued the momentum of his assault on the position and killed the remainder of the enemy.”

All told, 3,536 recipients have been given the Medal of Honor. According to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, 63 are alive.

In an interview after Wednesday’s ceremony, Col. Marm said, “Our veterans are very important to us. You know, we wouldn’t be the greatest country in the world without our veterans.”