The town of Charlo on the Flathead Reservation and an elementary school in Missoula are both named in the chief's honor.

Morigeau said as he grew up and became aware of his uncle’s heroics at Iwo Jima, he assumed Louis Charlo had received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the United States’ highest and most prestigious personal military decoration.

Louis hadn’t.

Victor Charlo has his brother’s Purple Heart at home in Dixon, but he was surprised to hear in Morigeau’s bill that Louis earned the Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon with one bronze star, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Ribbon with one bronze star and the World War II Victory Medal.

“I’d like to know where those are. I’d like to get them if I could,” he said.

In a letter sent in 2016 to Victor Charlo, Gen. Robert Neller, Commandant of the Marine Corps, said: “Although Charlo deserved a medal for heroism, the only award he received was the Purple Heart. There is no record of any medal being submitted or awarded ... (but) I can’t emphasize enough that our Corps considers him a hero. He was part of one of the most brutal battles of World War II and gave everything for his Corps and country.”