Purple Hearts Reunited; race to return WWI Purple Hearts
Our buddy, Zach Fike, the founder of Purple Hearts Reunited is in the news again. The Associated Press reports that the Vermont-based organization has set a goal to return 100 artifacts in his possession to the families of the rightful owners before the 100th anniversary of this country’s entry into the Great War on April 6th next year;
Georgia, Vt., resident Zachariah Fike, of the Vermont-based Purple Hearts Reunited, began the project after noticing he had in his collection of memorabilia a total of exactly 100 Purple Hearts or equivalent lithographs awarded for injuries or deaths from the Great War.
[…]
The lithographs, known as a Lady Columbia Wound Certificate and showing a toga-wearing woman knighting an infantry soldier on bended knee, were what World War I military members wounded or killed while serving were awarded before the Purple Heart came into being in 1932. World War I service members who already had a lithograph became eligible for a Purple Heart at that time.
The Purple Hearts and the certificates include the name of the service member to whom they were awarded. Fike is working with researchers to try to find the descendants of the service members.
Category: We Remember
HOOAH
GREAT STORY ON THIS DAY OF REMEMBRANCE!!!!!!!
Thank you Zach Fike. What a thing to hear on such as day as this!
Awesome! BZ to Zach and his organization for what they are doing!
Looks more like a honey-do list from the wife after a soldier gets back from a deployment.
🙂
My Dad, Joe C Lindsey served in WWI with the 32nd Rainbow Division. He was gassed in the Black Forest in France and had grafted skin on one shoulder as a result of his injuries. He died in 1964 from lung problems. He drew disability from the VA as long as I can remember and would have to check into VA Hospitals many Falls as he tried to farm (dust) during harvest seasons. I was born in 1942 and so far as I know, he never had a Purple Heart. He would have never pursued it. My son, Col Jason Lindsey, USAF, was recently named as the International Director of the F-35 Program. As we were upgrading his WWI poster and photo, we wondered why he never had a Purple Heart Medal. After Dad could no longer farm due to his lung issues, he worked in Cival Service at Eglin AFB, FL until his death in 1964.
small typo – that’s 42nd, My Dad served with them on WWII