WWI hero's lost Purple Heart is being returned to grandson
Source: AP
By CHRIS CAROLA
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Six years before he died in a car crash, Daniel W. Quinlan was among the 138 World War I veterans to receive the first Purple Heart medals issued by the U.S. military.
His family lost track of the medal he received during a 1932 ceremony held at the Hudson Valley historic site, where historians say Gen. George Washington issued a precursor to the Purple Heart, which is awarded to those wounded or killed in combat. This week, Quinlan's recently found Purple Heart will be displayed at the site before it's draped across his nearby gravestone. Afterward, the medal will be sent to his grandson in Florida.
"It going to be amazing when I put my hands on that medal, to think that my grandfather actually held it in his hands," said William Quinlan, a 58-year-old real estate broker in Key West.
Born in East Fishkill in Dutchess County, Daniel Quinlan was 20 when he enlisted in the Army in September 1917, five months after the U.S. declared war on Germany. He was a member of the 77th Infantry Division, made up mostly of soldiers from New York City and other parts of the state. Quinlan was assigned to the 305th Regiment, where he served in the unit's sanitary detachment, the forerunner to today's medical corps.
FULL story at link.
This undated photo provided by William Quinlan shows his grandfather and World War I veteran Pvt. Daniel Quinlan. One of the first Purple Heart medals ever awarded to American military personnel is being returned to a relative of Daniel Quinlan's, who received it for wounds suffered during World War I. Purple Hearts Reunited said Quinlan’s medal was sent to the Vermont-based group recently with a note saying it was found in the mid-1990s in the attic of a Hudson Valley home near where Quinlan lived before he died in a 1938 car crash. (Courtesy of William Quinlan via AP)
This May 11, 2015 photo provided by Zachariah Fike of Purple Hearts Reunited shows Pvt. Daniel Quinlan's Purple Heart. The medal, one of the first Purple Heart medals ever awarded to American military personnel is being returned to a relative of Quinlan's, who received it for wounds suffered during World War I. Purple Hearts Reunited said Quinlan’s medal was sent to the Vermont-based group recently with a note saying it was found in the mid-1990s in the attic of a Hudson Valley home near where Quinlan lived before he died in a 1938 car crash. (Zachariah Fike/Purple Hearts Reunited via AP)
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/4f42e1d5253649919c64d6ea29a809e0/wwi-heros-lost-purple-heart-being-returned-grandson
= new reply since forum marked as read
