The families of five Hawaii men who served in a unit of Japanese-language linguists during World War II have received posthumous Purple Heart medals on behalf of their loved ones nearly eight decades after the soldiers died in a plane crash in the final days of the conflict.

Thirty-one Japanese linguists for the U.S. Army died in a plane crash while attempting to land in Okinawa, Japan in 1945.

Hawaii-born WWII heroes were honored almost eight decades after their deaths on Friday, May 10. Mother's Day is on Sunday and many people are busy buying gifts for the special mother in their lives. As the rush continues,