On February 11, 2016, the Purple Heart of WWII Hero TEC5 Eugene Victor Call was returned to his family at a special ceremony in their family home in San Diego, CA.

 
Technician 5th Grade (TEC5) Eugene Victor Call (SN: 31040198) was born 19 March 1912 to William Howard and Mabel Pennington Clark Call. He would later enlist on 17 March 1942 to serve in the United States Army. Assigned to 2nd Platoon, Company C, 643rdTank Destroyer Battalion, 83rd Infantry Division in World War II, he was killed in action on 02 March 1945 near Kapellen, Germany. He was 32 years old.

 
The 643rd deployed into Normandy exactly three years after it was activated, landing at Cherbourg on 15 September 1944. The following day, a major German offensive was launched in the Ardennes forest, beginning the Battle of the Bulge, and the battalion was rushed into action, arriving at the front on 22 December. On 02 March 1945 at 2am, they reached the Rhine River at Oberkassel, Germany. They were the first Tank Destroyer unit to reach the Rhine in the Ninth and First Army fronts. Unfortunately, 2nd Platoon of Company C was ambushed near Kapellen, Germany losing most of their equipment and 38 men were killed, wounded, or missing. A total of 8 men died, to include TEC5 Call, 10 were wounded, and 20 were Missing in Action. The unit was disbanded later that year.

 
His awards and decorations consist of the Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with two bronze service stars, and WWII Victory Medal.

 
Purple Hearts Reunited received a call from a Mr. Rick Daigle from Fitchburg, MA last week informing them that he had acquired TEC5 Call’s effects through his late wife, whose mother Virginia, was married to TEC5 Call at the time of his death. As a military Veteran himself, he wanted to make sure it got back to the proper family. With help from Purple Hearts Reunited, the family was located.

 
TEC5 Call had a son at the time of his death, David Eugene Call, born in 1939. David would move to California at the age of eight. He unfortunately passed in 2004. He did however have three sons and one daughter. TEC5 Call’s grand children received their grandfather’s effects at their family home in a special ceremony thanks to Purple Hearts Reunited.