PAWTUCKET -- A World War II veteran bedridden with Alzheimer's disease was honored Friday with a visit from Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, who brought him the medals he had earned in the war.

Kennedy brought Carmine "Pat" Scotti the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the Honorable Service Lapel Button, the Sharpshooter Badge and the Marksman Badge -- awards he should have collected when he was discharged but didn't because, like many soldiers, he was in a hurry to get home.

"It's remarkable. Every veteran, when they got back here, they were thinking about what's ahead, not what was behind them," Kennedy said.

Many didn't fill out the necessary paperwork until years later, when they began to feel that they had missed out, Kennedy said.

Some, like Scotti, a retired jewelry company owner who lives in Darlington, never requested their medals at all.

Scotti, 83, might never have received his military honors if his wife, Florence, hadn't contacted Kennedy.

He was barely able to sit up in bed or speak when Kennedy showed up at Scotti's house to thank him for his war service.

"We're so grateful to you and all of our veterans for what you've done for our country and this world," Kennedy told him.

"We're here today to thank you because we live in a better world today because of people like you."

It wasn't the first time Kennedy had helped a veteran obtain his war medals. But it was the first time, according to staff members, he had brought them to the veteran's home.

Family members, nurses and social workers crowded the living room, where Scotti's bed was set up, along with a fireplace, TV set, sofa and wedding picture as Kennedy unveiled the medals and badges.

When Hitler committed the acts of aggression that led to the war, Kennedy said, he never imagined that a democratic society could assemble an army and send it into battle.

"That was a big miscalculation," Kennedy said. Americans signed up in great numbers to serve during World War II, he said, and continue to do so today.

As evidence, he cited the departure last week of members of the Rhode Island National Guard's 143rd Airlift Wing for Afghanistan and Iraq.

A sergeant in the Army, Scotti saw ground combat on Iwo Jima, the Japanese island American forces took in fierce fighting toward the end of the war.

Kennedy not only showed Scotti the medals, but he pinned two -- the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the Marksman Badge -- to his shirt.

"He's not going to take off that shirt when he wakes up," Mrs. Scotti said.

Kennedy reminded her of the other four medals. "You can entice him," he said, "by putting these on other shirts."

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