Family Of WWII Purple Heart Recipient Receives Unexpected Gift
By Cleve Bryan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A local family is about to receive an unexpected gift from across the sea.
"Regret to inform you your husband was seriously wounded in action in Luxembourg."
That Western Union telegraph is one of many scraps Bob and Leroy Funk have to piece together the story of their father Hudson, a World War II Purple Heart recipient.
"You know he had a limp when he walked and we just never talked about it," said Leroy Funk.
Four months after landing in Normandy a landmine blew off most of Hudson Funk's legs. Then a sniper shot him in the head and hand.
Funk died in 1974 and for the most part his story remained shelved in scrapbook.
"After he passed away you never really thought about the war and things like that," said Bob Funk.
Then something unexpected and incredible happened.
Buried on a farm in Normandy, France, British World War II artifact hunters Glyn Knightingale and Andrew Etherington found part of an GI mess kit with a clear inscription.
HLF for Hudson Leroy Funk. The kit also had part of his serial number which helped the men find Funk's family in Roxborough. Now they're here in the U.S. and plan to bring the Funks their father's mess kit as part of a larger commemoration of the 83rd infantry division.
"He gave up so much for this country, it's just so nice that people are remembering him," said Bob.
The Funks plan to hold the reunion Tuesday night. They say they expect when they hold that mess kit to feel a new connection with their father.
