WATERLOO - Robert Dean was a good shot. Just ask him.

On Tuesday, the Navy presented the former gunner's mate from Waterloo with an Expert Rifleman medal - 60 years after being honorably discharged from the service. He also received the Occupation Service medal for being in the Asian theater during the occupation of Japan following World War II.

Dean joined the Navy in the summer of 1945, a few months before Japan surrendered ending World War II, and served three years.

After local Navy recruiters FC1 George McKay and ET5 Gared Larson pinned the medals on the 80-year-old's yellow polo shirt during a private ceremony with family at the Grout Museum's Snowden House, it was if the former sailor were transported back in time. The stories flowed as fast as shells from the 40-mm anti-aircraft gun he manned on the heavy cruiser USS Bremerton and light cruiser USS Duluth.

"We used to have shooting duals with the battleship Iowa. I knocked down (airborne) and towed targets," said Dean, regretting he wasn't part of the action when Japanese kamikaze pilots flew their planes into ships during the end of the war. "I was good at anti-aircraft. I would have gave them fits."

That's just one tale. Dean has plenty - and he loves to share them.

That's why his family wanted to have a surprise medal ceremony for the retired Rath Packing Co. employee, so he could have a moment in the spotlight for awards he should have received six decades ago. No one knows why Dean didn't get them.

The medals don't have the prestige of the Purple Heart or Navy Cross, but they are still important to the Navy vet. Linda Mason, a daughter from Wheaton, Ill., said her dad talked about not receiving them recently, so she thought it was time.

After speaking with a Navy official, the medals were shipped to Waterloo without Dean's knowledge. Local recruiters agreed to pin them on.

To surprise Dean, Mason simply told her father that officials from the Grout wanted to talk to him about his military service. While that did happen, he had no idea more than 25 of his kids, grandkids and great-grandchildren would be on hand to honor their war hero.

"The whole thing is about honoring dad. We wanted the feel to be right," Mason said.

It worked.

"Holy moly," Dean exclaimed as the petty officers in dress blue uniforms full of medals of their own walked into the room.

With an American flag in the background and pictures of Dean 60 years younger in uniform, two of the long-lost medals found their rightful place - on the vet's chest.

"I'm speechless. ? It's thrilling; it makes me so proud to be a part of this (Navy) organization," Dean said.

He didn't stay speechless for long. Sitting in a chair by the flag, three years of Navy history, from Dean's eyes, poured out:

During boot camp, a stray bullet grazed his leg during rifle drills. Dean said it felt like a bee sting.

He sailed through a hurricane during a brief stay on his first ship heading to Norfolk, Va., to be decommissioned. It was damaged enough to take on water.

During liberty in Japan, he visited Nagasaki a year after it was destroyed by an atomic bomb. He visited a hospital and found a melted test tube and some hair on the floor from someone he thinks was a victim of the blast - he brought both back as a souvenir and reminder of the cost of war.

He remembers the look of terror from fellow sailors as the Bremerton, looking for mines off the coast of China, went to general quarters to prepare for what they thought was an attack by Chinese war planes.

Dean's most memorable moment, though, was seeing Gen. Douglas MacArthur up close.

"When the general was piped aboard, I felt a chill go right through my spine," Dean said.

Even though the war was nearing the end by the time Dean was old enough to join the military, he felt it was his "duty" to protect the country, like many young men and women did at the time.

The feeling today isn't so different for those currently serving in the armed forces.

That's why McKay eagerly agreed to participate in the ceremony and salute Dean.

"I'm honored to recognize his service," McKay said.

Contact Matthew Wilde at (319) 291-1579 or matt.wilde@wcfcourier.com.