The family of a World War II veteran was overjoyed to get his lost Purple Heart medal back — just in time for Veteran’s Day.
Army Rifleman James R. Bennett, who was wounded twice in 1944 while serving in France and Germany, posthumously received the prestigious medal on Nov. 10.
Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs presented the medal to Bennett’s niece, Patty Knies, at a VFW ceremony in the Chicago suburb of Oak Lawn, Illinois.
The event marks the 17th lost medal Frerichs has returned — a record in the Prairie state and the country — as part of Operation Purple Heart, a program he launched in 2021.
Its mission is to return the medals, which are awarded to service members for being wounded or killed in action, to their rightful owners.
After returning home from the army in 1945, Bennett, who died in 1990 at age 76, became a longtime resident of Oak Lawn with his wife, Ann.
He was a volunteer firefighter and a member of the police dept. Their only child, a daughter named Susan, was disabled. After her parents’ death, Knies became her guardian.
Bennett’s Purple Heart was kept in an Oak Lawn bank safe deposit box — which Knies said no one told her about — and surrendered to the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office as unclaimed property in 2022.
“Rifleman Bennett served his country honorably. He frequently wrote his wife, assuring her of his safety and downplaying his sacrifice,” Frerichs said, according to a release.
“It is never too late to honor the men and women of the Greatest Generation.”
“He was such a wonderful man, and it is an honor to hold his Purple Heart,” his niece said. So many soldiers and families suffered and sacrificed so much. It is important that they be remembered.”
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