{"id":118176,"date":"2021-10-05T14:28:49","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T18:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=118176"},"modified":"2021-10-05T14:28:49","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T18:28:49","slug":"georgia-vietnam-vet-reunited-with-stolen-purple-heart-38-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=118176","title":{"rendered":"Georgia Vietnam vet reunited with stolen Purple Heart 38 years later"},"content":{"rendered":"

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WGXA in Georgia is reporting on a Vietnam veteran who had his Purple Heart stolen in 1982 and was recently reunited with it. From WGXA<\/a>;<\/p>\n

A Vietnam veteran in Dublin was just reunited with what he called a \u201clong lost family member,” his purple heart medal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI graduated from high school on a Friday night. On Saturday I got my draft notice, and on Monday I was up here in Georgia at Fort Benning,” recounts Army veteran Gus Albritton.<\/p>\n

That was in 1968. At only 18, Albritton was deployed to Vietnam.<\/p>\n

His tour left him wounded from three separate incidents.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst time in the right shoulder with an AK47. The second time, I was wounded through my feet, my legs my feet, groin… Through the back, an RPG went through the bunker. I got fragments in my back and one piece came all the way through me out my chest…I\u2019m still walking. The good lord\u2019s been good to me,” said Albritton.<\/p>\n

He was awarded multiple purple hearts as proof of his sacrifice.<\/p>\n

The war ended in \u201975 and for Albritton, life kept moving.<\/p>\n

Years passed, but his memory of the war never faded.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kept a lot of stuff in a big water jug and I had pocket knives and a bunch of change and other trinkets in there, and I had thrown my purple heart in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, in 1982 Albritton\u2019s home in Brooksfield, Florida was broken into.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhoever broke into my house stole some guns and they stole that bottle of change.\u201d<\/p>\n

He thought his purple heart was gone forever.<\/p>\n

Still, he reported it lost and moved on.<\/p>\n

After that, he just assumed it was gone forever. He reported it lost and moved on with his life.<\/p>\n

Then, the unexpected happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cJamie bath said he had purchased a purple heart at a yard sale or a flea market and it had my name engraved on the back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albritton gave Jamie Bath, a complete stranger, his address here in Dublin and \u201cWell, I got my purple heart back after 38 years.”<\/p>\n

Of all places, Bath came across the medal in Brooksfield, the same city where it was lost.<\/p>\n

Albritton calls the find a miracle.<\/p>\n

Albritton says his Purple Hearts are the highest medals he has. But, they\u2019re more than just symbols.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to shed blood for your country to receive a Purple Heart and I\u2019ve shed my share of blood for my country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albritton, now 71 years old, says he\u2019s most looking forward to meeting Jamie Bath for a cup of coffee, to thank him face to face.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This isn’t the first time Gus has made the news. In 2015 13WMAZ featured him in an article<\/a> on his recovery from issues with PTSD and how he now helps the next generation with their PTSD. In 2016 WXGA wrote him up<\/a> when he was honored for having volunteered 23,000 hours to the VA Hospital in Dublin over a period of 25 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WGXA in Georgia is reporting on a Vietnam veteran who had his Purple Heart stolen in … Georgia Vietnam vet reunited with stolen Purple Heart 38 years later<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[359,218,461,226],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-army","category-feel-good-stories","category-purple-heart","category-veterans-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=118176"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118177,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118176\/revisions\/118177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=118176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=118176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=118176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}