DECATUR/PEORIA, Ill. – A purple heart belonging to a Peoria-native is back in its rightful home.
At a ceremony in Decatur on Wednesday, State Treasurer Michael Frerichs returned the heart to the brother and granddaughter of Army Private John L. Moore, as part of the office’s “Operation Purple Heart.”
Moore fought in D-Day and Rhineland, and was wounded by shrapnel in his right wrist, left knee, and lower right leg. He continued to fight in battles, but nerve damage limited the use of his hand, which led to additional hospitalizations.
Moore returned to Peoria in 1946. After the war, he worked in the trades, notably carpentry and roofing, and also worked as a truck driver, postal worker, and maintenance supervisor. Moore was involved in military organizations in Peoria and East Peoria.
Moore passed away in 2002 at the age of 78 after suffering a heart attack. His Purple Heart was found in a safe deposit box submitted to the state treasurer’s office the year prior.
Frerichs tells WMBD’s “The Phil Luciano Show” that it can be difficult to find the rightful owner of the medal.
“You can’t tell if it was earned in World War I, World War II, Vietnam, Korea, they all look the same. And frequently, unless someone chose to, they don’t have the name engraved on it,” Frerichs said. “And so when they’re sitting in a bank safe deposit box, if there’s no one alive to say ‘That’s mine, that was my brother’s, that was my uncle’s,’ it’s hard to tell.”
Frerichs says a lot of phone calls are made to find the rightful owner. He says the medals usually end up in safe deposit boxes because of worries it will become damaged or lost in the home.
Frerichs says to date, “Operation Purple Heart” has returned 15 Purple Hearts since the program started, but adds that there’s still about nine unclaimed.
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