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SARATOGA SPRINGS — On Thursday, Sept. 5, Purple Hearts Reunited held a Return Ceremony in Saratoga Springs, on Bryan Street. The organization returned a World War I Lady of Columbia Wound Certificate, a lithograph award that predates the more modern Purple Heart medal, to the veteran’s daughter and grandson, Mildred and Daniel Green.
According to the event’s official press release, “Purple Hearts Reunited is a nonprofit organization that returns lost, stolen or misplaced medals of valor to veterans or their families in order to honor their sacrifice to the nation.”
According to the organization’s website, “Purple Hearts Reunited is the only organization in the country returning lost or stolen medals to veterans and military families at no cost.”
Some version of the Purple Heart has existed throughout most of American history, with George Washington establishing the Badge of Military Merit in 1782. However, the more current version started being created in 1932, specifically on Washington’s 200th birthday.
During World War II, the medal changed into a recognition of combat injuries and deaths, according to a National Public Radio story.
According to www. armyhistory.org, there have been more than 1.5 million Purple Hearts awarded since the change in 1932. Purple Hearts Reunited’s release states the number is closer to 1.8 million.
Purple Hearts Reunited’s first return was in 2011. In 2012, it became a non-profit. As of 2019, “to date, Purple Hearts Reunited has returned the service medals of more than 200 veterans and is currently working on over 300 lost medals that need a home. In the case that a veteran or family cannot be found, a home of honor is located for the medal, such as a military museum.”
According to the website, “Purple Hearts and other medals can be lost during moves, estate sales, and are sometimes even stolen. In fact, people are often surprised by where these medals have been found.”
When the organization receives or finds a medal, “we scour through hundreds of records in an attempt to find the owner of their family. The search can take anywhere from a matter of minutes to longer than a year, depending on the amount of family information made available to the public.”
The release states that Purple Hearts Reunited has returned over 650 medals, in total.
The Greens received the returned Wound Certificate due to Mildred’s father. According to the release, Green’s father, Fredrick Beisswanger, was a Corporal in the Army during 1918 and 1919 and “present for all engagements at Mancourt, Montfaucon, Nantillois and Argonne.”
It continued by stating that “Corporal Beisswanger was severely wounded in action on Oct. 2, 1918, taking large amounts of shrapnel to his right leg. He returned to the US and was honorably discharged on March 1, 1919.”
Beisswanger’s Wound Certificate was at the family’s estate, and turned into the Purple Hearts Reunited organization by a couple in Paso Robles, California.
For more information, visit Purple Hearts Reunited’s website, at www.purpleheartsreunited.org.
