Well Done, Kentucky
We give bureaucracies – state and local – a hard time for being impersonal and inefficient. Most of the time, that’s well deserved.
But on occasion, they really do deserve a commendation. This is one of those occasions.
Recently, the Kentucky State Treasury reunited a veteran’s family with his decorations from World War II.
The man served in the Pacific during World War II, in the USMC. He passed away in 1987.
The decorations and some other items had been placed in a safety deposit box by his wife when he died 26 years ago. When she passed away approaching 20 years later, the items went unclaimed – and were turned over to the State Treasury.
The State Treasury located his next of kin, which turned out to be his son. They returned his father’s medals and other personal items from the safety deposit box to him last week. One of those “other personal items” was the card authorizing his father to attend the Japanese surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945 and witness same.
The full article is here. Go read it for the details.
Thank, Kentucky. Well done indeed.
Category: Marine Corps, Veterans Issues
Wow talk about a bit of family history….
Every once in a while, a bureaucracy gets it right.
Thank you, KY, for getting this one right!
The family gets important stuff – and they didn’t have to go through the searching and claiming and bureaucratic nonsense! Nice job Kentucky!!
A nice story, with a happy ending BUT I give no credit to any bureaucrat. Kentucky had such an abysmal record of finding those entitled to lost property (after all, the state gets the booty) that a special Traesure Finders element was set up, ‘staffed’ by VOLUNTEERS recruited by local pols. KY fails to return about 80% of the property turned over to it, by law, from banks and other sources. In fact, when the bureacrats got involved, the process was delayed for months after Owsley, Jr. was notofied. So, screw the bureaucrats.
Well done, whoever did this.
What about the State of Missoui’s State Treasurers’ Office returning medals/ribbons/awards to their rightful owners with the help of our Mary?
http://www.treasurer.mo.gov/newsroom/news-and-events/item/2013/08/28/military-medal-return-bill-allows-treasurer-clint-zweifel-to-share-list-of-owners-with-public
http://www.treasurer.mo.gov/Military/
Great post, Brother. Made my day!