PORT CHICAGO — A 94-year-old park ranger has received a replacement presidential coin for the one stolen when she was brutally beaten in her home last month.
Betty Reid Soskin, the oldest ranger with the National Park Service, received the new commemorative coin Sunday from Sally Jewell, U.S. secretary of the interior, at the 72nd annual anniversary of the Port Chicago explosion at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial.
Soskin received the original coin in December when she introduced President Obama at the White House Christmas tree lighting ceremony.
On June 27, a man broke into Soskin’s Richmond home. When she tried to grab her cellphone to call for help, the intruder wrestled it away before punching her several times, knocking her to the floor.
The man then dragged her from her bedroom and into the hallway, where he punched her again. Soskin was able to grab the attacker’s groin in self-defense, then crawl away and lock herself in the bathroom. When she came out, she saw that her iPhone, iPad, laptop and jewelry were missing, including the coin.
The attack spurred an outpouring of good wishes from all over the country as police work to find the attacker.
Staff writer Karina Ioffee also contributed to this report.
