Woman Finds Purple Heart at Flea Market, Searches For Owner

The Military Order of the Purple Heart says the cherished medal is “awarded to members of the armed forces of the U.S. who are wounded by an instrument of war in the hands of the enemy and posthumously to the next of kin in the name of those who are killed in action or die of wounds received in action.” Obviously, the object is a meaningful symbol to those who earned it and their families. When Tammie Diaz found one in at her local Bay Area flea market, she knew something was amiss.

The day after Thanksgiving, Diaz spotted a purple box containing the medal, and she quickly bought it for $10 knowing she wanted to find its rightful owner. The name ‘Shirley R. Macon’ accompanied the Purple Heart, so Diaz knew it was very possible to track the medal back to the soldier.

A genealogy website helped Diaz to locate the family of the WWII U.S. Navy gunner’s mate to whom the medal belonged. ABC 13 writes, “He survived the attack on Pearl Harbor and wound up in San Francisco where he met and married his wife and then re-deployed to the Philippines…In the battle off Samar, the USS Samuel B. Roberts was outgunned and outnumbered, but made a daring maneuver that helped take down a Japanese ship.” It was there that Macon was killed in battle. His family is incredibly thankful to Diaz for sending the Purple Heart back to them.