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Much more than 1,500,000 Purple Hearts have been awarded to American servicemen and -females since Planet War Two. The medals are amongst the military's top rated honors and are usually found proudly displayed on uniforms, resting locations or in loved ones residences. They are not the kind of products you'd anticipate to find in a thrift shop-and when one lately was, it sparked a cross-nation work.

Gene Dobos was browsing through a secondhand store in California when he came across a worn, heart-shaped medal mixed in with the knickknacks. It was a Purple Heart bearing the name "Frank N. Smith." Purple Hearts are awarded to American soldiers who are wounded by the enemy and to the subsequent of kin of soldiers killed in action or who die from wounds received in battle. Dobos, who understood the significance of the medal, bought it from the shop and assisted set off a national search for its owner.

Dobos contacted the Military Order of the Purple Heart-an organization of combat veterans who work to honor the medal and its recipients. They get in touch with themselves the "Keepers of the Medal." Ray Funderburk, the group's public relations chief-who is a Vietnam veteran with two Purple Hearts himself-researched the medal and ultimately discovered that Frank N. Smith was a private in the U.S. Army who died in Vietnam practically 40 years ago.

Smith, who was 20 at the time, was in a convoy that was ambushed on December 17, 1968-just two weeks ahead of he was scheduled to return to his house state of Ohio for very good.

Following mastering Smith's story, Funderburk turned to an Ohio genealogist for assist in tracking down Smith's resting spot and surviving loved ones.

"It looks as if the medal has been handled many instances," said Funderburk. "I envisioned his mom and dad taking the medal out and holding it in their hands, considering of their son."

Sooner or later, Smith's grave was located in a cemetery not far from his childhood home in Ohio. His parents had died, but his siblings were discovered employing e-mails they had sent memorializing their brother at an on-line registry for fallen Vietnam War troops. They did not know the medal had gone missing and had been "overwhelmed" that a group of strangers had worked so hard to return it to them.

Frank N. Smith was married and had a child shortly before shipping off to Vietnam (he enlisted voluntarily). Immediately after his death, his widow and daughter moved west, presumably taking the Purple Heart with them. It is not recognized how the medal landed in a thrift shop.

For Smith's sister Jonna, the return of the medal brought with it a flood of emotions-and she was not alone in her reaction. Funderburk, of the Purple Heart Order, was so inspired by the quantity of individuals who came together to return the medal to Smith's family members that he penned a poem. His son-in-law helped him set the words to music and a CD was designed that is becoming sold. Proceeds assist pay for a scholarship plan that joins young men and women with veterans who are bedridden and residing in Veteran Affairs facilities.

The song's chorus reads:

Purple Hearts are won in battle grenades explode, machine guns rattle a soldier dies, a mother cries that is how Purple Hearts are won.

The Order and Smith's loved ones planned a little ceremony to be held in the cemetery. The Purple Heart will be encased in glass and attached to Smith's headstone.

Private 1st Class Frank N. Smith's legacy will be noticed in every VA hospital in America as young folks move among the veterans and tell the story of a young man who left Seneca County, Ohio to defend freedom-and who lastly got his medal. bad company 2 vietnam cheat