When Navy Cmdr. John Hunter Haltom joined the service in September 1989, he had no idea his career would lead to being awarded the Bronze Star nearly 20 years later.

“When I joined the Navy, I just wanted to learn how to fly,” the former Texarkana, Texas, resident said. “I wasn’t expecting this at all.”

Haltom, a 1984 graduate of Texas High School, recently received the Bronze Star for “exceptionally meritorious service” while assigned as senior electronic warfare officer to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom between Sept. 10, 2007 and July 22 of this year, according t...