Latest news with #UnclaimedPropertyDivision
CBS News
3 days ago
- General
- CBS News
6 Purple Hearts are unclaimed in Massachusetts. The state needs help finding the heroes' families.
There are six unclaimed Purple Hearts at the Massachusetts Treasurer's office. The state is hoping to get the medals back to the families of those who were honored with them. The Purple Heart is the oldest military award in the United States. It is so treasured, many are kept in family safe deposit boxes. In Massachusetts, after eight years, unclaimed boxes at banks are turned over to the Unclaimed Property Division of the state treasury. For two employees there, reuniting the six medals with the veterans' families has become a patriotic mission. "Anyone who received the Purple Heart obviously gave the last full measure of sacrifice and service," said Marine veteran James Roy, a manager in the Unclaimed Property Division. "It's an important thing that families continue to have these in their possession and remember those people and the sacrifices they made on our behalf." Roy's colleague Christina Lambert has spent hours looking into the backgrounds of each of the six Purple Heart recipients. "Other states around the country have been returning military medals and they face the same issues we're facing, that it's incredibly hard to reunite the medals with the recipients or even the box owners," she said. Lambert and Roy are trying to find the families of: "Just learning a little bit of why they received the medal, what war they fought in, was really inspiring," Lambert said. There are also a few complications in the search. Each branch of the United States military awards the Purple Heart out in their own way. Then, there was a massive fire in 1973 at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis where all the military records were kept. Millions of files were destroyed, according to the National Archives. If you are familiar with one of the six names or if you want to search for other military items that might have been in a safe deposit box, contact the Massachusetts Treasurer's Office at 617-367-0400. You can also visit The Purple Heart was designed by General George Washington in 1782 to boost the morale of troops at the end of the Revolutionary War. It was originally called the Badge of Merit, to "recognize heroic acts by his troops," according to the Defense Department. The badge was a cloth purple heart with the word "merit" stitched across it in white. The current medal, designed in 1932, has a profile image of Washington.
Axios
11-06-2025
- Business
- Axios
$2.5M in unclaimed money heading to Virginians this week
The state is mailing roughly $2.5 million in unclaimed money to Virginians this week. Why it matters: Some of that money could be yours. The big picture: The Virginia Department of Treasury's Unclaimed Property Division is doling out checks for everything from funds in lost or misplaced bank accounts and unpaid wages to uncashed checks, utility deposits, refunds or insurance policy proceeds. Between the lines: The department has always collected and held this money for residents, but previously, one had to file a claim with the state to get it back. Under a new law, Virginia is automatically returning the money to its " rightful owners." Catch up quick: This year, the General Assembly passed legislation creating the VA Cash Now program, which requires the state to automatically return unclaimed funds valued up to $5,000. The law went into effect when Gov. Youngkin signed it in March. Since then, the Treasury has been mailing notices to Virginians that they have money coming, Bradley Earl, director of the Unclaimed Property Division, tells Axios. The first batch of letters went out May 1, and they've been sending more every Thursday since then. The first round of checks goes out this week. By the numbers: More than 10,000 unclaimed property notices have been sent since May 1, reports WTKR News, whose investigation into issues with the previous process led to the new law.
