Mystery Purple Heart returned to WWII vet
BUFFALO, N.Y. – A Purple Heart medal that mysteriously ended up at a western New York Goodwill store will soon be among the family of the World War II soldier who earned it.
Goodwill employee Richard Zuehlke found the medal while unpacking donations in Lockport in June. With it was a photo of Pvt. James Roland.
Goodwill posted both on Facebook, leading Linda Hastreiter from the Patriot Guard Riders to begin searching for Roland’s family.
She found a cousin – Westover, Pa., Mayor Mary Roland Struble.
Goodwill will give the medal to the Patriot Guard. They’ll present it to Struble Saturday at Roland’s gravesite in Westover.
Roland was killed at Anzio, Italy in 1944.
He once worked in New York, but how the medal got to Goodwill is a mystery.