ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A retired Charlotte firefighter is about to receive the medals he earned during Korean War fighting more than six decades ago.

Eighty-year-old Joe Ford is scheduled to get the Purple Heart and Prisoner of War Medal he earned but never received during a ceremony Saturday at the Asheville veteran's hospital where he is a patient.

Ford was an Army corporal when he was wounded in February 1951. He was captured and spent the next two and a half years imprisoned by the Chinese and North Koreans.

The medals are being made possible through the work of the non-profit Veterans' Legacy Foundation, which is based in Harnett County. The foundation researches military records to see that veterans receive awards they earned but were never presented or never knew they had coming.