Stockholm - US Honors WWII Hero Wallenberg In Sweden

Stockholm - A U.S. senator has handed over a document bestowing the Congressional Gold Medal upon Raoul Wallenberg to the World War II hero’s 91-year-old half-sister.

The medal is the highest U.S. civilian honor and recognizes the Swedish diplomat’s “heroic actions” to save tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from Nazi death camps.

Sen. Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican, on Wednesday presented the act approving the medal to Nina Lagergren in a ceremony at the Swedish Parliament.

Parliament spokeswoman Karin Flygare said Lagergren will receive the gold medal at a later date.

Wallenberg, who would have turned 100 this year, was detained by Soviet authorities in 1945 and is believed to have died in captivity, though the time and circumstances of his death remain a mystery.

“It is very heartwarming to see Mrs Lagergren receive the recognition by our government for her tireless efforts, throughout the past several decades to ascertain the whereabouts of her half brother Raoul Wallenberg”, said Ezra Friedlander, who established the Raoul Wallenberg Centennial Celebration Commission which spearheaded the efforts to award Wallenberg with a Congressional Gold Medal.