It took a while, but World War II Veteran Henry "Hank" Jackson got his medals back Saturday Sept 17 at a gala event at the Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton.

Jackson says he earned them the hard way during the war flying bombing raids over Europe with the rest of his crew in a Halifax Bomber.

"33 missions we actually did, including one daylight. We were pretty lucky, we had a good crew, we worked good together and we had a lot of breaks I guess. The good lord was on our side. So, we managed to scrape through."

Jackson last saw his medals when he gave them to his daughter in Saskatchewan.

The idea was she'd mount them in a shadowbox display for Jackson, but shortly after getting them she was diagnosed with cancer.

Jackson says the medals at that time weren't a priority and through the time of his daughters illness and later death, they were lost in the shuffle.

Turns out they were with his grandson in Manitoba, but it took the help of Museum Director Karl Kjarsgaard, to track them down and get them returned to Jackson.