Call Kurtis Investigates: A missing Purple Heart finally returned
A Sacramento collector and historian said a Purple Heart vanished. He knew who had it but couldn't get it back and decided to call on Kurtis Ming to investigate. Finally, CBS13 has an update.
The Purple Heart is the nation's oldest military medal, dating back to the time of George Washington. It has been awarded almost two million times to those hurt or killed in battle for our country. Our viewer is retired and works to preserve World War II history, so why can't he get it back?
"This is my passion," says John Mercurio, who collects Purple Hearts awarded to World War II heroes who died in combat. "Purple Hearts tell a story. They tell a story of sacrifice."
Tens of thousands of military medals are thought to be lost, stolen or just forgotten about, with some showing up at estate sales, thrift shops, or for sale online.
John finds them, researches the heroes who earned them, then publishes their stories on social media.
This medal was awarded to Private Ira Fornter, injured during a battle in Italy. But the Purple Heart John bought off eBay didn't quite fit his collection.
"Almost all of them are from soldiers who were killed in action," he said. "It just didn't mesh with what I had."
But his friend in Iowa also collects Purple Hearts, so he mailed it to him. Unfortunately, all that arrived was an empty, flat package stamped "received without contents."
So what happened to the medal?
That answer would come in an internet search two months later in an article about a sheriff in West Virginia that turned over a Purple Heart to the local American Legion, saying it was "lost in the mail for a very long time."
The American Legion is a service organization that works to return found military medals to surviving family members. But the chapter in West Virginia says the family of this particular soldier had no interest in getting it back.
"I'd like the medal returned," said John, a retired Sacramento sheriff's deputy who said neither the sheriff in West Virginia nor the American Legion would return it to him or his friend.
It got us wondering about the trade of military medals. We learned Congress made it a crime to sell purplehearts under the Stolen Valor Act of 2005. But the Supreme Court overturned that in 2012, meaning it is perfectly legal to buy and sell Purple Hearts.
"That's a real tragedy," said Colonel Russ Vernon, the executive director of the National Purple Heart Honor Mission, who thinks that the medal should stay with the family and not in personal collections.
"Medals are earned by recipients," he said. "They are not to be bought and sold."
If no family can be found, he thinks the medal should end up with a military organization like his, a nonprofit that displays orphaned medals at the Purple Heart Hall of Honor in New York.
Everyone involved wants to protect the medal, they just can't agree on how to do it. But last Veteran's Day, John posted the story of Private Ira Fornter and his sacrifice on Facebook, something he does for all of the medals he collects.
CBS13 tried to find living relatives of Private Ira Fornter, but his only son has died. I took some time, but after we started investigating John's case, the American Legion mailed the medal back to John's friend.
"It took several months," he said. "But yes, I'm glad it's over."
John added that he has collected for or five more Purple Hearts since we spoke with him - all for soldiers killed in action - and all stories of valor and sacrifice he plans to research and share.