OTTAWA, Ill. — A Purple Heart medal, lost for decades, has been returned to a World War II soldier's family in Illinois.
The (Kankakee) Daily Journal reports the medal belonged to William T. Brewer, who joined the Army and fought in the Philippines. Brewer was wounded, captured and spent years in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps. He died in the early 1950s.
The Purple Heart was stored in a trunk with other keepsakes, put in a storage locker and lost.
Ottawa resident Kane Farabaugh found the medal on a Canadian military awards website. He purchased it, and on Memorial Day he returned it to Brewer's daughter, Mary Jo Farrell of Johnsburg, and her daughter, Meg Skelly of Ottawa.
Farrell says the return of the medal means a great deal to her family.
