(KNZA)--Special honors in the Kansas Statehouse were presented last week for a late, local area soldier and Medal of Honor recipient.

According to a release from the office of Kansas Senator Craig Bowser, a resolution was approved in the Senate honoring the service of Danny J. Petersen in the United States Army.

Peterson, a native of Netawaka born in 1949, died in the line of duty while serving in the Vietnam War on January 9, 1970.

For his actions during the conflict, Petersen was awarded the Medal of Honor, the United States military's highest decoration, in July, 1974, by then President Gerald Ford.

Among Petersen's family members in attendance for the Senate Resolution were his brother and sister, Mark Petersen and Reta Petersen Claxton.

In 1994, a stretch of U.S. Highway 75, between K-9 and K-16 highways in northern Jackson County, was designated the "Danny J. Petersen Memorial Highway.”