On Thursday, 19 May 2016 at 10am, a lost Purple Heart Medal and personal mementos were returned to the Veteran at the War Memorial next to Town Hall in Wakefield, NH.

On 16 May 2016, Purple Hearts Reunited, who specializes in returning lost medals of Valor, was contacted by a Mr. Jason Murphy, who had found a box of military memorabilia on Highway 16 heading north toward Ossippee, NH. In this box, was a Purple Heart, High School class ring, a dog tag, and other personal mementos belonging to Vietnam Veteran Barry T. Hutchinson.

Mr. Hutchinson served in Vietnam in 1966 and was a Green Beret.  During his service, he was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart.

Mr. Murphy, himself a Veteran of the Iraq War with 2 Combat Deployments and 12 years of service, understood the meaning of these items and set forth to return them.

Mr. Murphy contacted Purple Hearts Reunited and we were able to quickly locate Mr. Hutchinson to inform him of the discovery.