NEED TO KNOW
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Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs reunited a Purple Heart with the family of the veteran who earned it, after it came into the State Treasury’s possession
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The medal was given to Army Rifleman James R. Bennett, who was injured twice while fighting in World War II, and also worked as a volunteer firefighter and part-time member of the police department
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The award was found inside an Oak Lawn Bank safe deposit box in Bennett’s wife’s name
A Purple Heart medal was returned to the family of a World War II Veteran 35 years after his death.
Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs returned the prestigious award — given to members of the U.S. Armed Forces who have been “wounded or killed as a result of enemy action” — to the family of Army Rifleman James R. Bennett, according to a press release from the Illinois State Treasury, which also shared a video of the moment.
Bennett had been injured twice — on Aug. 13, 1944, in France and again on Dec. 13, 1944, in Germany — while fighting in World War II, per the Illinois State Treasury. A year after his second injury, in December 1945, he returned home to the U.S.
He and his wife Ann settled down in Oak Lawn, Ill. and welcomed their only child, named Susan — who “suffered from encephalitis and developed disabilities” that would affect her throughout her life — a few years after the war.
Illinois.gov
A photo of the Purple Heart that was awarded to Army Rifleman James R. Bennett.
After his military service, Bennett continued to serve his community as a volunteer firefighter and part-time member of the police department. He also repaired toys for children with disabilities, according to the Illinois State Treasury.
Bennett died in 1990 at age 76, and his wife Ann died seven years later. Bennett’s niece Patty Knies became Susan’s legal guardian after their death and watched over their items — except for the Purple Heart, which had been inside an Oak Lawn Bank safe deposit box in Ann’s name.
Knies told the Illinois State Treasury that she had not been aware of the Purple Heart, as her aunt had “never mentioned it.” The box and its contents were eventually “surrendered to the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office as unclaimed property in 2022.”
However, Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs sought to reunite the Purple Heart with the owner’s family and eventually presented it to Knies during a ceremony at the Johnson-Phelps VFW Post 5220 in Oak Lawn on Monday, Nov. 10.
“Rifleman Bennett served his country honorably. He frequently wrote his wife, assuring her of his safety and downplaying his sacrifice,” Frerich said in a release. “It is never too late to honor the men and women of the Greatest Generation.”
Knies, who lives in Northwest Indiana and made the trek to Illinois for the ceremony, said she was only happy to see the medal returned to where it belonged. She looked emotional as she finally held the medal again in photos posted to Frerich’s Facebook.
“He was such a wonderful man, and it is an honor to hold his Purple Heart,” she said. “So many soldiers and families suffered and sacrificed so much. It is important that they be remembered.”
This was the 17th Purple Heart reunion Frerich has made since starting his tenure. It is a notably difficult task to reunite these kinds of prestigious medals with their soldiers and their families, as “neither the Armed Forces nor the federal government maintain a comprehensive list of awardees,” per the Illinois State Treasury.
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Frerich noted that “safeguarding unclaimed property until it can be returned to its owners or heirs, no matter how long it takes, is a core function of the state treasurer’s office.”
“If you recognize a name, please reach out to their family. This is an honor that deserves to be in their loving hands, not the cold, dark vault of my safe,” he added.
He said that anyone who is seeking to be reunited with a Purple Heart should contact operationpurpleheart.org.
Read the original article on People
