A nonprofit that returns lost and stolen military medals to veterans or their families is set to deliver four Purple Hearts in Southern California, beginning with a San Diego delivery on Thursday.
The first medal from Purple Hearts Reunited will go to the family of Eugene Victor Call, a U.S. Army technician killed in March 1945 in Germany. The New Hampshire resident, who was 32 when he died, served with a tank destroyer battalion during World War II.
Zachariah Fike of Purple Hearts Reunited said the medal was discovered by the son-in-law of Call's widow when he going through his wife's belongings after she died.
A namesake great-nephew of Call's was located in Newport, New Hampshire, where a ceremony was held Monday, Fike said. Call's grandchildren were found in San Diego, and the medal will be given to them Thursday afternoon in a ceremony at a private home in the Clairemont area.
Purple Hearts Reunited said other medals will be delivered Friday in Lake Elsinore, Hesperia and Burbank.
