Nearly 70 years after Nebraska-born soldier Donald Schwab knocked out a German machine gun position on a French battlefield, his descendants are heading to the White House this month to accept the Medal of Honor on his behalf.

The delegation representing the late Army lieutenant will include his son Terry Schwab, a physician in Fort Scott, Kan., and Terry Schwab’s daughter, Missouri Southern State University student Savannah Schwab.

The Joplin Globe reports the March 18 visit will supplement a project Savannah Schwab already had begun for her government class at the Joplin school – a blog called “Letters to My Grandfather.”

She and her father remember Donald Schwab as a humble man who spoke little of his World War II experiences with the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division.