Purple Heart Medal Finds Its Way Home To Soldier’s Family

• A box of donations at a Thrift Store yielded a board of ribbons, medals, and a purple heart.
• Thrift shop volunteer Teresa Ferrin knows the importance of a purple heart and so she researches and finds the soldier’s family.
• Ferrin returns it to one of the soldier’s children who believes that it is a sign from her father, Erik Karl Blauberg.

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You will never know what you can find in a thrift store.  One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.  But this one find is a treasure that needs to be brought home to its rightful family— a soldier’s purple heart.

A purple heart is one of the highest honors given to a wounded or killed soldier while in service.  For soldiers and their families, the medal is important. 

Teresa Ferrin, whose father rendered service in the Korean War, knows its value.  So, when she found a board with military awards and ribbons and a Purple Heart beside it, she swore to find the soldier or the family to which it rightfully belongs.

She carefully examined the medal and when she turned it over, there at the back was an etched name: Erik Karl Blauberg.

The medals were in good condition and she figured it was kept that way as far as when Erik first received them in 1951-52.

That started her search for Erik.  She found out that Erik lived in Apache Junction, Arizona and died in the 1980s. She also discovered the names of his children whom she began reaching out to.

She sent them private messages on Facebook and thankfully, Lisa Walker who is one of Erik’s eight children, answered! Lisa said that she never had that much contact with her father growing up.  She did not even know that her father had a purple heart.   She explained, “It would be the only thing we ever had of my father’s.”

Lisa believes that this is a sign from her father.  She is grateful to Teresa for going the extra mile to locate and return the medal to Erik’s family.

Thanks to Teresa, Erik, his family, and his purple heart are now reunited!

Source: Inspire More