Latest news with #OperationPurpleHeart
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Purple Heart reunited with WWII veteran's family in Geneva
The Brief Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs' Operation Purple Heart reunited a lost Purple Heart with the family of WWII veteran Edward Gorski Jr. during a ceremony in Geneva. Gorski, wounded in the Battle of the Bulge while protecting a fellow soldier, died in 1993; his medal was found in a bank deposit box and turned over as unclaimed property. Gorski's grandson, Shawn, an Army veteran himself, accepted the medal and said the honor deepened the meaning of his own service. GENEVA, Ill. - A Purple Heart that lost its way has now been reunited with the family of a World War II veteran. What we know "These medals don't deserve to be in a cold vault in Springfield," said Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs. "They should be in the warm, loving embrace of family."Frerichs launched Operation Purple Heart in 2021 to return lost or unclaimed combat medals to the families of those who earned Thursday, during a ceremony at the American Legion post in west suburban Geneva, Army veteran Shawn Gorski accepted the Purple Heart awarded to his late grandfather, Edward Gorski Jr. The elder Gorski served in the Army's 65th Infantry Division, which fought in Europe during 1944 and 1945, including in the Battle of the Bulge. Gorski's son, Scott, recalled that his father was wounded while trying to shield a fellow soldier from a mortar blast. "There was a mortar that got shot in a fox hole and he do over a guy that was in bad shape already," Gorski said. "He dove on top of him and it blew and did a lot of damage around his eye. And he carried that scar through life as I remember on his face."Edward Gorski died in 1993. His Purple Heart, which had been stored in a bank's safe deposit box, was eventually turned over to the treasurer's office as unclaimed property. "This program came about because when I came into office, I discovered that we held certain Purple Hearts. I saw one in a display case. and asked who does that belong to? The staff couldn't tell me."Thursday's event marked the 14th time the state has returned a Purple Heart to a veteran's family. Shawn Gorski, who was just a child when his grandfather died, said he was honored to receive the medal. A veteran himself, he plans to proudly display it in his home. "When the Treasurer's office reached out to me and said your grandfather has this, I was shocked. This just makes it all more real. And more meaningful. I think it makes my service feel more important too. So now I'm going to put it in a case and hang it up in my basement and show it off," Gorski said. What's next Frerichs said the state still has eight more Purple Hearts awaiting reunification and is asking the public to visit to see if they can help connect the medals with their rightful families.
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
Family receives World War II hero's Purple Heart at ceremony in Geneva
On Thursday, Edward Gorski Jr.'s Purple Heart medal was returned by the Illinois treasurer's office to the World War II veteran's grandson, Shawn. The medal was presented to the Gorski family at a ceremony at American Legion Post 75 in Geneva, where Shawn is a member, according to the post. Shawn, himself an Army veteran, said receiving it was an emotional experience. 'It just shows that everything he went through, we're able to, you know, tell those stories,' he said on Thursday. 'Ultimately, our teachings and his legacy will live on.' The reuniting of the Gorski family with Edward's Purple Heart comes several years into a larger effort on the part of the treasurer's office to return unclaimed military medals in its possession. Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs is the state's custodian of unclaimed property — everything from bank accounts and insurance policies to stamps and jewelry. That's why military medals like Purple Hearts sometimes end up in the office's possession. As of Thursday, the treasurer's office estimated it has returned about $2.3 billion in forgotten cash and items during Frerichs' three terms. In 2021, the office launched a special effort, Operation Purple Heart, to raise awareness about unclaimed military medals. To date, Frerichs has returned 14 Purple Heart medals, including Gorski's. In December, as part of an investigation identifying the veterans behind the unclaimed Purple Hearts in the treasurer's office's possession, the Tribune ultimately tracked down Gorski's family to let them know Edward Gorski Jr.'s medals, including the Purple Heart, were being held by the Illinois treasurer's office. According to past reporting, one of Gorski's sons, David, had put them in a bank after Edward had died and later lost track of the box. The medals had been turned over to the treasurer's office by a Darien bank in 2003, ending up in the state's unclaimed property section. But, as of Thursday, the Purple Heart medal is back with Gorski's family. Gathered at the ceremony were members of the Gorski family, members of the American Legion post including Commander Mike Ferrari and local elected officials, who recognized Edward Gorski Jr.'s service. 'It's important (that) all of us who benefit from the freedom earned and granted us by Mr. Gorski and the countless men and women like him, remember and learn about, venerate and commemorate the times they knew,' Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns said at the ceremony. Edward Gorski Jr. was the oldest child of working-class parents and grew up on Chicago's North Side, near Wrigley Field, according to past reporting. He voluntarily enlisted in the Army in April 1944, months after his 18th birthday. He survived significant combat, including a battle in Germany in which he was struck in the face and body by shrapnel. 'He continued to fight for his country,' Frerichs said at the ceremony. 'Eventually, he came back and got to enjoy some of that freedom that he fought so hard for, was able to start a family here, raise a son, see his grandson follow in his footsteps and service to his country. These are things that really make someone a hero.' Gorski ultimately returned to Chicago after being honorably discharged in November 1945, having earned a Purple Heart, a European-African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with two bronze service stars, a combat infantryman badge, and the good conduct and World War II victory medals, per his discharge records. He and his wife, Evelyn, later moved from Chicago to suburban DuPage County, and he worked for many years in private security. He died in early 1993, at the age of 67, after suffering a massive heart attack, according to past reporting. Evelyn died weeks before the Tribune contacted his family about the lost medals, at the age of 99. Tracking down the owners and family of military medals can be difficult, Frerichs said at the ceremony, because the Armed Forces and federal government don't keep a comprehensive list of who is awarded them, and because names on safe deposit boxes don't always match the name of someone awarded a medal. And, while Gorski's medal has now found its way home, the treasurer's office's efforts are not yet over, Frerichs said on Thursday. He said they have nine unreturned Purple Hearts in its possession currently, and noted that medals are still coming into his office. After the ceremony, Scott Gorski — Edward's son and Shawn's father — said he had a feeling when his oldest child was born that he'd be the one to receive the Purple Heart. 'They shared the same birthday,' Scott Gorski said. 'They are two peas in a pod.' Scott Gorski described how his father spent all week, every week with his grandson when he was young. 'We said, 'Yeah, we got to start searching daycares,'' Scott Gorski recalled. 'And he (Edward) was like, 'Absolutely not. I'm his daycare.'' During that time, Shawn and his grandfather went fishing, visited the zoo and played tennis. 'A true family man,' Scott Gorski said of his father. And, not only did Thursday's ceremony reunite the medal with the family, but Scott Gorski said he hoped it offered a glimpse of his father's character to the family members who never got the chance to know him. 'I think they feel a little closer to him today,' he said.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Purple Heart returned to family of Lansing WWII veteran
In the hard-fought campaign to liberate the Philippines during World War II, 22-year-old Army Cpl. Henry Van Der Noord of suburban Lansing was hit with shrapnel during a key battle on the island of Luzon. Van Der Noord survived — as did three brothers who also served their country in the war — and earned a Purple Heart for the combat injury he suffered in May 1945. This month, as Memorial Day approached, Van Der Noord's firstborn grandchild Chris Reed held the heart-shaped medal for the first time in about 25 years after Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs presented it to him during a poignant ceremony in Atlanta. Frerichs' office had preserved the medal in a government vault since 2020, when a Geneva bank turned it over to the state from an abandoned safe deposit box. Reed told the Tribune he had lost track of the box during his frequent moves while serving in the U.S. Air Force. Reed, who now lives outside Atlanta, said his grandfather had given him the medal in the 1970s when he was 8 or 9 years old. He smiled as Frerichs opened a small weathered case to reveal not only his grandfather's medal but also the pencil markings that Reed, as a young boy, had scribbled inside the lid. 'It was a cool box, but I had no idea (at the time) what it really meant,' said Reed, 57, who came to realize the medal's significance as he grew older and through his own military service. 'I never really put two and two together (back then) about what he endured,' he said. 'He did almost (make) the ultimate sacrifice.' The Illinois treasurer is the state's custodian of unclaimed property, which includes everything from lost bank accounts and insurance policies to stamps, coins, jewelry and military medals. The treasurer's office has returned an estimated $2.2 billion in forgotten cash and stock to individuals, employers and nonprofits during Frerichs' three terms, according to the office. The treasurer launched a special effort, 'Operation Purple Heart,' in late 2021 to raise awareness about the unclaimed medals. To date, Frerichs has returned 13 Purple Hearts, including the most recent medal belonging to Van Der Noord, presented to Reed on May 4. Last winter, the Tribune wrote about its own efforts to identify the veterans behind the remaining unclaimed Purple Hearts. After months of researching public records and interviewing people linked to the safe deposit boxes, the Tribune succeeded in 10 of the 11 cases on the treasurer's public list. At the time, Van Der Noord's medal was not included on that list. Members of the office reached out to Reed earlier this year after tracking him down near Atlanta. The treasurer's office has been working to verify the claims of families who have come forward following the Tribune's reporting, officials said. Henry Van Der Noord died Feb. 3, 1991, at the age of 68. A retired Lansing police lieutenant, he last lived in the small Kankakee County city of Momence, about 50 miles south of Chicago, where Reed said his grandfather loved to spend his days on the river in his fishing boat. Reed, who was in his early 20s when his grandfather died, said Van Der Noord didn't speak much about the war. 'He was very humble about it,' he said. Reed said his grandfather, one of eight children, earned the nickname 'Babe' within the family because he was an infant when they arrived in the United States from the Netherlands. The moniker stuck, even after he went off to war. He was in the Army's 38th Field Artillery Division and traveled to Hawaii, New Guinea and the Philippines during his estimated two years of service, according to his family and public records. During a lengthy recuperation from the shrapnel wound he suffered May 3, 1945, he ended up in the same hospital as one of his older brothers, Pfc. Edward Van Der Noord, of the Army's 11th Airborne Division, who had injured his ankle in a parachute jump, according to the treasurer's office. Henry Van Der Noord retired from the Lansing Police Department in 1978 with the rank of lieutenant, according to the department. He had three daughters with his first wife, Nellie, who died of breast cancer in the mid-1970s, and later remarried. Reed said his grandfather also worked with Edward Van Der Noord building duplexes as well as a large complex in Lansing during the 1970s that bore the family name, the Van Der Noord Apartments. 'He was a man's man, for sure,' Reed said of the grandfather who taught him how to swim by tossing him into a pool, much to the chagrin of his mother. 'He was always kind of a carpenter and a hard worker.' Reed recalled seeing his grandfather's large scar on his back, but Van Der Noord didn't offer too many details. 'He would touch on it briefly and then my mom would give the rest of the story,' Reed said. Though he shielded his family from the atrocities he experienced at war, Reed knew what Van Der Noord's service meant to him. In fact, he was so patriotic and such a big fan of Gen. Douglas MacArthur that his grandfather offered his mother and father $1,000 in 1967 to name him 'Douglas,' Reed said. They declined, but Reed noted one of his aunts did take her dad up on the offer. Chris Reed left Illinois in his late teens, enlisting in the Air Force and moving around the country during his estimated 20 years of service, split between active duty and the reserves. He had put the Purple Heart in a bank deposit box for safekeeping, last seeing it circa 1995-2000. Reed said he was honored when Frerichs' staff came to Georgia to return his grandfather's medal. Truth be told, he's also relieved he didn't have to tell his mother he had misplaced it. Anyone with information about a Purple Heart return, particularly a safe deposit box connected to Robert Cawthon, is urged to contact the Illinois treasurer's office at claimantconnect@ For more information, visit cmgutowski@
Chicago Tribune
21-05-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Purple Heart returned to family of Lansing WWII veteran
In the hard-fought campaign to liberate the Philippines during World War II, 22-year-old Army Cpl. Henry Van Der Noord of suburban Lansing was hit with shrapnel during a key battle on the island of Luzon. Van Der Noord survived — as did three brothers who also served their country in the war — and earned a Purple Heart for the combat injury he suffered in May 1945. This month, as Memorial Day approached, Van Der Noord's firstborn grandchild Chris Reed held the heart-shaped medal for the first time in about 25 years after Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs presented it to him during a poignant ceremony in Atlanta. Frerichs' office had preserved the medal in a government vault since 2020, when a Geneva bank turned it over to the state from an abandoned safe deposit box. Reed told the Tribune he had lost track of the box during his frequent moves while serving in the U.S. Air Force. Reed, who now lives outside Atlanta, said his grandfather had given him the medal in the 1970s when he was 8 or 9 years old. He smiled as Frerichs opened a small weathered case to reveal not only his grandfather's medal but also the pencil markings that Reed, as a young boy, had scribbled inside the lid. 'It was a cool box, but I had no idea (at the time) what it really meant,' said Reed, 57, who came to realize the medal's significance as he grew older and through his own military service. 'I never really put two and two together (back then) about what he endured,' he said. 'He did almost (make) the ultimate sacrifice.' The Illinois treasurer is the state's custodian of unclaimed property, which includes everything from lost bank accounts and insurance policies to stamps, coins, jewelry and military medals. The treasurer's office has returned an estimated $2.2 billion in forgotten cash and stock to individuals, employers and nonprofits during Frerichs' three terms, according to the office. The treasurer launched a special effort, 'Operation Purple Heart,' in late 2021 to raise awareness about the unclaimed medals. To date, Frerichs has returned 13 Purple Hearts, including the most recent medal belonging to Van Der Noord, presented to Reed on May 4. Last winter, the Tribune wrote about its own efforts to identify the veterans behind the remaining unclaimed Purple Hearts. After months of researching public records and interviewing people linked to the safe deposit boxes, the Tribune succeeded in 10 of the 11 cases on the treasurer's public list. At the time, Van Der Noord's medal was not included on that list. Members of the office reached out to Reed earlier this year after tracking him down near Atlanta. The treasurer's office has been working to verify the claims of families who have come forward following the Tribune's reporting, officials said. Henry Van Der Noord died Feb. 3, 1991, at the age of 68. A retired Lansing police lieutenant, he last lived in the small Kankakee County city of Momence, about 50 miles south of Chicago, where Reed said his grandfather loved to spend his days on the river in his fishing boat. Reed, who was in his early 20s when his grandfather died, said Van Der Noord didn't speak much about the war. 'He was very humble about it,' he said. Reed said his grandfather, one of eight children, earned the nickname 'Babe' within the family because he was an infant when they arrived in the United States from the Netherlands. The moniker stuck, even after he went off to war. He was in the Army's 38th Field Artillery Division and traveled to Hawaii, New Guinea and the Philippines during his estimated two years of service, according to his family and public records. During a lengthy recuperation from the shrapnel wound he suffered May 3, 1945, he ended up in the same hospital as one of his older brothers, Pfc. Edward Van Der Noord, of the Army's 11th Airborne Division, who had injured his ankle in a parachute jump, according to the treasurer's office. Henry Van Der Noord retired from the Lansing Police Department in 1978 with the rank of lieutenant, according to the department. He had three daughters with his first wife, Nellie, who died of breast cancer in the mid-1970s, and later remarried. Reed said his grandfather also worked with Edward Van Der Noord building duplexes as well as a large complex in Lansing during the 1970s that bore the family name, the Van Der Noord Apartments. 'He was a man's man, for sure,' Reed said of the grandfather who taught him how to swim by tossing him into a pool, much to the chagrin of his mother. 'He was always kind of a carpenter and a hard worker.' Reed recalled seeing his grandfather's large scar on his back, but Van Der Noord didn't offer too many details. 'He would touch on it briefly and then my mom would give the rest of the story,' Reed said. Though he shielded his family from the atrocities he experienced at war, Reed knew what Van Der Noord's service meant to him. In fact, he was so patriotic and such a big fan of Gen. Douglas MacArthur that his grandfather offered his mother and father $1,000 in 1967 to name him 'Douglas,' Reed said. They declined, but Reed noted one of his aunts did take her dad up on the offer. Chris Reed left Illinois in his late teens, enlisting in the Air Force and moving around the country during his estimated 20 years of service, split between active duty and the reserves. He had put the Purple Heart in a bank deposit box for safekeeping, last seeing it circa 1995-2000. Reed said he was honored when Frerichs' staff came to Georgia to return his grandfather's medal. Truth be told, he's also relieved he didn't have to tell his mother he had misplaced it.
