By Kurtis Ming
/ CBS Sacramento
Call Kurtis investigates: A missing Purple Heart
SACRAMENTO — A Sacramento collector and historian says a purple heart vanished. He knows who has it, but couldn't get it back and decided to call on Kurtis Ming to investigate.
The Purple Heart is the nation's oldest military medal, dating back to the time of George Washington. It has been awarded almost two million times to those hurt or killed in battle for our country. Our viewer is retired and works to preserve World War 2 history, so why can't he get it back?
"This is my passion," says John Mercurio, who collects purple hearts awarded to World War 2 heroes who died in combat. "Purple hearts tell a story. They tell a story of sacrifice."
Tens of thousands of military medals are thought to be lost, stolen or just forgotten about. Some showing up at estate sales, thrift shops or for sale, online.
John finds them, researches the heroes who earned them, then publishes their stories on social media.
This medal was awarded to Private Ira Fornter, injured during a battle in Italy.
But the Purple Heart John bought off eBay didn't quite fit his collection.
"Almost all of them are from soldiers who were killed in action," he said. "It just didn't mesh with what I had."
But his friend in Iowa also collects purple hearts, so he mailed it to him.
Unfortunately, all that arrived was an empty, flat package stamped "received without contents."
So what happened to the medal?
That answer would come in an internet search two months later. In an article about a sheriff in West Virginia that turned over a Purple Heart to the local American Legion, saying it was "lost in the mail for a very long time."
The American Legion is a service organization and works to return found military medals to surviving family members. But the chapter in West Virginia says the family of this particular soldier had no interest in getting it back.
"I'd like the medal returned," said John, a retired Sacramento sheriff's deputy who says neither the sheriff in West Virginia nor the American Legion will return it to him or his friend.
It got us wondering about the trade of military medals. We learned Congress made it a crime to sell purplehearts under the Stolen Valor Act of 2005. But the Supreme Court overturned that in 2012, meaning it is perfectly legal to buy and sell Purple Hearts.
"That's a real tragedy," said Colonel Russ Vernon, the executive director of the National Purple Heart Honor Mission, who things that the medal should stay with the family and not in personal collections.
"Medals are earned by recipients," he said. "They are not to be bought and sold."
If no family can be found, he things the medal should end up with a military organization like his, a nonprofit that displays orphaned medals at the Purple Heart Hall of Honor in New York.
Everyone involved wants to protect the medal, they just can't agree on how to do it.
"I bring their story and sacrifice alive," said John.
Regardless of where it ends up, on this Veterans' Day, John has posted a picture of Private Ira Fortner's Purple Heart and the story of his sacrifice.
"These stories are lost to time," he said.
CBS13 also tried finding surviving family of Private Fortner. His only son has died.
After we contacted the American Legion, John says there are now talks on how best to preserve this medal.
Another charity called Purple Hearts Reunited, keeps a database of medals reported missing, and wants anyone who finds one to reach out to them.
