Latest news with #PurpleHeartMedal
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Huron post office honors late veteran with new name
SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) — The post office in Huron will now hold a new name. Family members, friends and residents gathered to honor fallen Army First Lt. Thomas Michael Martin by renaming the Huron post office in his memory, a news release from the United States Postal Office said. Buffalo Chip announces rally lineup According to the USPS, Martin was killed in action on October 14, 2007, in Iraq. Martin was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster and the Purple Heart Medal posthumously. He's buried in the West Point National Cemetery and his hometown post office will be known as the First Lieutenant Michael Martin Post Office Building. Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds and Huron Mayor Mark Robish attended a ceremony at the post office in Huron along with family members. 'Tom began his life here, died in Iraq fighting for freedom that each of us enjoy every day. Our family is so proud that this beautiful historic facility in what Tom always felt was his hometown, will now be the First Lieutenant Michael Martin Post Office Building,' Martin's father Ed said in a news release. Martin was born October 10, 1980, in Huron and in 1998, he enlisted in the United States Army as a Field Artilleryman. In 2001, he was accepted for admission to the United States Military Academy at West Point, and later graduated from Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He majored in Military Science, commissioned as an Armor Officer and completed the course at Fort Knox, Kentucky. He reported to the 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Richardson, Alaska where he assumed responsibility as the Sniper Platoon Leader and deployed with the unit in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in September 2006, a news release said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Lost Purple Heart found: Newnan scrapyard sparks search for WWII hero's family
The Brief A Newnan scrapyard discovered a Purple Heart Medal and turned it over to a local veterans organization in the hopes of returning it to either the recipient or a family member. The mystery behind the lost medal is slowly unraveling with the discovery of family members in California. The name David T. McMahon is inscribed on the back of the medal, and local historians have learned he was a pilot who died in a plane crash 80 years ago. NEWNAN, Ga. - The discovery of a Purple Heart medal at a Newnan scrapyard has prompted a search for the recipient or next of kin to return the award. What we know Local veterans and a historian say they are making headway with the discovery in a local salvage yard. It's a complete mystery how this World War II-era Purple Heart ended up in a Coweta County junkyard. It was only recently discovered. Now, slowly, local veterans and a historian are finding the answers they need to return it. "It could have been an accident that the medal was thrown away. We may never know. But we do know where the medal needs to go," said Jeff Bouchard of VFW Post 2667. Dig deeper The name David T. McMahon is handwritten on the back of the medal. When an employee at the salvage yard brought it to Newnan VFW Post, they turned to local author and historian Steve Quisenberry, who immediately learned that McMahon had died 80 years ago in a military plane crash in the Philippines, where historians say he is buried. "I know that he died on takeoff in the Philippines and he is buried there," said Quisenberry. He said McMahon was a fighter pilot assigned to a unit stationed in the Philippines. The medal was awarded posthumously. Local veterans and the historian say they found an old article about McMahon's death printed in a Grand Rapids Newspaper, which included a photograph. But in their research, they found nothing that explained the medal's presence in a box in a Georgia junkyard. What they're saying Just this past weekend, they say they discovered a niece and nephew in Bolinas, California. They also could not shed any light on how the medal ended up in Georgia. The Source FOX 5's Doug Evans spoke with members of the Newnan VFW Post for this article.
