War medals belong with veterans, not thieves

For a revered Purple Heart medal to be stolen or lost is upsetting, but one senator has eased one veteran family’s pain.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, gave copies of the late Louis Read’s World War II medals to his widow. The originals were taken by thieves in June.

Dallas native Read survived the infamous Bataan Death March and imprisonment in a POW camp.

He died in 2011 at 90.

It is a shame someone stole his Purple Heart and Bronze Star, but Cornyn replacing the treasured medallions brings some peace.

“When you lose a personality like my dad, there’s a hole there forever,” Read’s daughter, Phyllis Wood, told WFAA. “But we have … his medals and we can look at them and … remember him.”

Stolen or lost Purple Hearts aren’t uncommon, but you don’t have to be a senator to help.

Some organizations hunt down and return medals to veterans or surviving family members.

“This is often the solace that is needed for a military family to commemorate their loved one’s service and move on from the pain of his or her sacrifice,” the nonprofit Purple Hearts Reunited says on its website.

The organization has returned medals to over 150 families since 2012.

This story was originally published September 7, 2016 at 5:44 PM with the headline "War medals belong with veterans, not thieves."