Many circumstances can lead to military medals being misplaced, lost, never awarded, or even stolen. Army Pvt. Dan Feragen died in 1942 during World War II after surviving the Bataan Death March and while being held at POW Camp O’Donnell in the Philippines. When his remains were identified in an unmarked grave in 1948, his parents no longer were alive, so his Purple Heart never was issued. This year, his nephew, Lyle Feragen, will receive Private Feragen’s medal for the first time on National Purple Heart Day, Monday, Aug. 7, thanks to Purple Hearts Reunited.

MOAA member and 2016 Army Times Soldier of the Year Maj. Zachariah Fike, ARNG, founded nonprofit Purple Hearts Reunited in July 2012 after he received a Purple Heart and began returning lost medals to their original recipients or surviving loved ones. Since its creation, the organization has returned more than 350 lost medals in 42 states.

Seven additional families of Purple Heart recipients will be reunited with their loved ones’ lost medals at the “Eight on the Seventh” ceremony in New York City at the same location where George Washington, the founding father of the Purple Heart, was sworn in as the nation’s first president in 1789. The lost medals that will be reunited— awarded from World War I through the global war on terrorism — include one discovered at the Bank of New York, one located in a jewelry shop in California, and one found in the 1970s by an Army staff sergeant.

Purple Hearts Reunited is covering all travel expenses for each family, and a benefit following the ceremony will allow members of the community to meet the families, learn more about the servicemembers’ stories, and support the safe journey home of several more Purple Hearts that will be on display. Visit www.purpleheartsreunited.org to learn more.