A long lost World War II Purple Heart medal was returned to the family of a marine in Fond du Lac Saturday. Private First Class Woodrow Wilson Grubb died on July 9, 1944 in the Battle of Saipan in the Marianna Islands.
The medal was returned to Phyllis Grubb England who like her uncle was born in Illinois, but she now lives in the Fond du Lac area. She says she didn’t know him and was born three years after he was killed in action.
She says she only saw him in pictures.and heard stories about him. She says another uncle was in the Army and her father was in the Navy.
She says she’s proud of her Uncle Woodrow. She says we should all be proud because we’ve lost a lot of people serving our country and it’s an honor for everyone.
Purple Heart Reunited, a non-profit organization, returned the medal to the family. Mike Brennan of the group says it was found by a VFW Chaplain in Rochester, Pennsylvania.
He says like many of the medals of valor they return to families, they have no idea how Grubb’s medal ended up where it did.
He says it costs them on average about $1,500 to return a medal to a family. The medal was returned during a ceremony at the Fond du Lac American Legion Post.