meritorious service, merit

to accept, admit, to approve, to allow / to recognize / to acknowledge / to concede / to appreciate, to witness / to observe or notice

write (some text; a letter); put down (one's thoughts on paper) / eat; put down (a meal) / treat; deal with / prepare / subdue

commendation, official recognition

commend, recognize

many years

(used with negatives) for a long time

many years / a long lifespan

he / distal demonstrative, something far off removed from both speaker and listener: that / boyfriend

distal demonstrative, something far off removed from both speaker and listener: that, yon / particularly, male personal third person pronoun: he / by extension from he: boyfriend