In a rare move, the Army will upgrade one of two Bronze Star with “V” medals earned by a Marine killed in Afghanistan nearly nine years after leaders nominated him for the prestigious award.

Staff Sgt. Nicholas Sprovtsoff’s widow, Tasha, will receive her husband’s Silver Star on Friday during a private ceremony at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she now lives with their two children.

Sprovtsoff, who last deployed as an explosive ordnance disposal technician with 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, was killed in an improvised explosive device blast in 2011. His Silver Star will be presented by Maj. Gen. Joseph Osterman, the head of Marine Corps Special Operations Command.

Read more at the Marine Corps Times

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