On 01 July 2016 at 11am, a long lost WWI Purple Heart was returned to the family of WWI hero PVT Harrison B. Virtue.  The ceremony took place at the Grant Park Pavilion in Galena, Illinois.

Private Harrison Boyd Virtue (SN: 2087247) was born on 07 September 1888 in Galena, Illinois to David Alexander and Anna E. Funston Virtue.  PVT Virtue would later enlisted March of 1918 as a doughboy.  He received training at Camp Grant before sailing to France in June of 1918.  Assigned as a Mechanic in Company L, 356^th Infantry Regiment, 89^th Infantry Division, his unit was stationed at Thaicourt, France, when a gas attack was launched by the Germans.  Virtue put on his gas mask but too late to avoid inhaling some of the deadly fumes.  The next morning he realized that the gas had burned his lungs, but he thought he could continue.  The Company was quartered near some old shacks which they had begun to tear down and the mustard gas had collected behind the boards and PVT Virtue received a second dose of the gas as it escaped.  The next day, he was sent to the hospital and spent many months recovering.

It wasn’t until 26 May 1941, that PVT Virtue finally received his Purple Heart.  The medal was presented by local Lynwood, California VFW Commander Knud Nielson on behalf of Brigadier General Edgar T. Conley, Acting Adjutant General of the War Department during that time.

He returned home from the war, owned the Lynwood Transfer and Express Co. in Lynwood, CA, and would later pass on 02 May 1961.   He is buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

The medal was secured by one of Purple Hearts Reunited’s Valor Rescue Team members from a military memorabilia collector online.

The medal was returned to PVT Virtue’s great niece, Mrs. Barb Virtue Townsend from Galena, Illinois.

Returning the medal on behalf of Purple Hearts Reunited was Valor Guard members, Mr. Michael Brennan, a Veteran and Gold Star Father and Mr. Jason Johns, an Iraqi Veteran and Purple Heart recipient.  Both men are from Madison, Wisconsin.

Members of VFW Post 2665 and American Legion Post 193 assisted with presenting a Color Guard for the event.