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Purple Heart returned to family

by Jonn Lilyea••12

ROS sends us the story of a non-veterans’ search for the family of whose oldest brother gave the last full measure of devotion in the frozen forests outside of Bastogne;

As Harris said in his soft Southern voice, it bothered him to see that medal — the award the nation gives to its wounded or killed military personnel — on a junk-filled shelf of old lapel pins and pendants.

Harris asked to look at the Purple Heart more closely and saw the words “PFC Dewey A. Tafoya” and “1-7-45” engraved on the back. The clerk told him he could have it for just $95.

“I thought about that medal every day for a week and it just didn’t seem right that it was just sitting there,” Harris said. “You knew that there was some family, somewhere, that would want that medal.”

But, you need to read the whole story.

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12 thoughts on “Purple Heart returned to family”

  1. There is a person who was taught about what doing the right thing could mean…I think that guy is awesome!

  2. Thanks for this story. I was moved by the fact that the center of attention was not Randall Harris. What do we know about him from the account? Very, very little. Instead, the focus was on Dewey and the decent act done. How refreshing is that?

  3. Damn screen keeps getting blurry. God bless those selfless people who understand and respect the sacrifices of folks like Dewey Tafoya.

  4. Damn I love stories like this…

    “And he wouldn’t even let us pay him the $95 he spent buying the medal.”

    “It was an honor to do it,” Harris said. “I wanted that medal to find its home.”

    I wish I could buy him a beer, thank you Mr. Harris!

  6. Right on, OT, Mr. Harris full well knows the meaning of honor, and he has more than his share, too.

  7. WoW!!! Things are made right again in a messed up world. Thank you Mr Harris … a man I would be proud to know … and yes, buy a beer or two

  9. Dang screen blurr -gotta dust the place. Yeah, that’s it. Thank you to the Tafoya family and very, very well done, Mr. Harris. Thank you.

  10. “It seemed like such a dishonor to me to see that medal just sitting there with junk,”…

    When I see statements like that, and I contrast it with the diarrhea coming out of the mouths of the “Occupy” types, it restores my hope for the Republic.

    Thank you indeed, Mr. Harris. Thank you for giving a damn.

    And thank you, Jonn. This made my day.

  11. Thanks for the link to that story. It’s a wonderful way to start my day. It’s so nice to see that others haven’t forgotten about “doing the right thing”.

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