MESA, Ariz., March 17 (UPI) -- An Arizona woman sought the family of a local war hero after finding a Purple Heart on sale for $4.99 at an area thrift store.
Laura Hardy shared a photo of the medal hoping to find the family of former United States soldier Eual H. Whiteman after finding his Purple Heart medal for sale at a Mesa Goodwill.
"Looking for the family of Eual H. Whiteman. Deceased in nineteen ninety one," she wrote in a Facebook post on March 12. "What a shame to find it at Goodwill for $4.99."
Two days later a woman named Elaine Anderson wrote a post in the Facebook group Missouri Genealogy revealing that the case had been solved.
She wrote that Tina Durnil Cook found that Whiteman had given the Purple Heart to his nephew who passed his belongings, including the medal, to a friend after a run in with the law.
"The nephew was recently incarcerated and gave his belongings to a friend for safe keeping. The friend donated his belongings to Goodwill," she wrote.
Cook contacted Phyllis Lawson, the nephew's mother, who graciously accepted the medal from Hardy.
"Legacy is something we don't have a lot of and it's precious to ya," Lawson told ABC 15.
Lawson described Whiteman, who also received three battle stars, a Combat Badge and a Presidential Unit Badge while serving with the 82nd Airborne division, as a "very impressive looking man."
She was unsure how the medal made it's way to Arizona but was thankful that Hardy took the time to get it back to her.
"She wanted to repay me the $4.99!" Hardy said. "I said 'no, this is my good deed for the day.'"
T-minus10seconds on March 21st, 2018 at 05:53 UTC »
How can you tell who the Purple Heart was awarded to? Is there a name on it or a serial number or something? What amount of detective work would be needed to return something like this? Is it the same for all medals?
AnonEMoussie on March 21st, 2018 at 03:34 UTC »
Where did you read this? It’s popping up everywhere in my Facebook feed, and it’s two years old. Two of my aunts have reshared it, and they don’t believe me when I told them it’s been returned!
I went to the family’s Facebook page that found it, and people are offering to help her via replies to a picture of a cactus! As I watched four more people posted replies. It’s getting a massive amount of traffic from somewhere.
King_of_the_pups on March 21st, 2018 at 02:10 UTC »
One day I was cleaning out a storage area like 20 years ago and came across a few medals. Someone had emptied another storage bin, but left the medals behind.
The medals were from 3 different fronts (Like North African service medal) I cant remember what else, but it stood out to me that he had served on three fronts. That is incredibly rare, even for support troops. And as it was an apartment storage area, I would have known the guy as well. I knew everyone and never knew one of them served on 3 fronts.
I kept them in case the family came back, but eventually some prick stole them.
I still wonder which one of the men was the one who served.