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* Press release from last November…
Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs urges people to assist with Operation Purple Heart, an unprecedented mission to return 11 Purple Heart medals to their rightful owners.
The military honors were submitted to the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office for safekeeping and return as part of the Unclaimed Property program, also known as I-Cash or missing money.
Military medals are among the most difficult items to return because neither the Armed Forces nor the federal government maintains a comprehensive list of awardees.
In an effort to find the rightful owners, the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office is releasing additional information that the owners or their relatives might recognize. A thorough vetting of inquiries will occur once an electronic claim is made at www. illinoistreasurer.gov/icash.
Misrepresenting oneself in an effort to recover unclaimed property is a crime, will not be tolerated, and the state treasurer’s office will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law, especially with regard to military honors.
Each of the 11 Purple Heart medals was inside a bank safe deposit box. Each bank determined the safe deposit box as abandoned because the owner(s) of the box had not touched it in several years. As a result, the contents of each safe deposit box were turned over to the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office.
In most cases, the conflict in which the Purple Heart was awarded, such as World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam or Desert Storm, is unclear or unknown. […]
Since 2015, the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office has successfully reunited seven Purple Hearts with their owners or heirs. It did so through an internal investigatory process, and the office is required by law to try to return unclaimed property no matter how long it takes. Private entities holding abandoned or misplaced property are not compelled to try to identify nor locate the owner.
From the list…
Kenneth Wiest, turned over to the treasurer’s office in October 2019. Wiest may have lived in O’Fallon in southern Illinois, about five miles from Scott Air Force Base.
* Weekend press conference…
Mr. Wiest’s three daughters received the medal as part of Operation Purple Heart, our office’s unprecedented mission to return 11 Purple Heart medals to their rightful owners.
“This is an absolute honor. I will treasure this for the rest of my life,” said Andrea Wiest Schone. pic.twitter.com/uGwkTV8Ezt
— Treasurer Michael Frerichs (@ILTreasurer) March 5, 2023
“Army Specialist Wiest served his country, and it is our duty to honor this soldier no matter how many years have passed,” Frerichs said during a somber ceremony in Springfield with Mr. Wiest’s children.
Wiest was born in Kelly Township, Pennsylvania, on July 28, 1950. Wiest’s family moved to O’Fallon while he was a child. He graduated from Mascoutah High School in 1968, entered the Army, and was deployed to Vietnam.
Wiest died in O’Fallon on Sept. 4, 1998. He was 48.
“Dad was a good soldier, a loyal friend and dedicated father,” said Andrea Wiest Schone, the youngest of Wiest’s four children. “My brother and sisters are grateful to have these medals that honor his legacy.”
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Mar 6, 23 @ 9:41 am
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Good on Frerichs.
I must say, it seems odd to me that no one keeps a record of those awarded military medals.
(And why does Twitter say that image might contain “potentially sensitive content”?)
Comment by JoanP Monday, Mar 6, 23 @ 10:12 am
The military notes medals on individual service records for certain, but it may be difficult or impossible to search the paper records if not properly digitized so the contents of records isn’t searchable. Some newspapers used to report on medal winners; the digital ‘morgues’ may be more searchable. (’Morgues’ is an old newspaper term for their archives).
Comment by thisjustinagain Monday, Mar 6, 23 @ 10:59 am
The Purple Heart Award would appear on the person’s discharge paper DD-214.
However, don’t believe there is any number or way to tie a specific actual Medal to a specific person .
Thus , tracking possession appears to be what Treasurer Frerichs is commendably doing.
Comment by Red Ketcher Monday, Mar 6, 23 @ 11:10 am
It is also extremely hard to date the medals themselves since they were basically all minted in the 1940s. We had so many made expecting mass casualties if we had to do a ground invasion of Japan that I believe to this day we are still giving out those WW2-era purple hearts.
Comment by Homebody Monday, Mar 6, 23 @ 11:31 am
Purple Hearts rarely had awardees names on them. The few I knew of were medals presented to the next of kin when the awardee was killed in action. The unit they were in had them engraved. Veterans can request replacement medals with engraving as well.
I appreciate they are looking for the medals owners.
Comment by FormerParatrooper Monday, Mar 6, 23 @ 2:28 pm
This is really special, this is doing the work that the PR is there for the recipient which is even better, well done by the Treasurer’s Crew.
Great to see.
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 6, 23 @ 4:53 pm