A Goodwill store in Tucson, Arizona found something in a box of donations they think ended up there by mistake: a Purple Heart medal. Now Goodwill is hoping to locate the family of the veteran it was issued to. The medal is engraved with the name “Nick D’Amelio, Jr.” along with “S2C, USN” and according to military record, he was a seaman second class who served in the Navy and went missing in action when the USS Little sank in the Solomon Islands on September 5th, 1942, during World War II.
Goodwill is working with Purple Hearts Reunited, a nonprofit that returns lost or stolen medals to vets and military families, to help find D’Amelio’s relatives. "It's important that we get it to the right family," says Judith Roman Bucasas, director of marketing of Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona. "This guy didn't get to make it back home."
To help track down D’Amelio’s family, Goodwill has posted images of the medal on social media. If you have any information that could help, please call 520-623-5174 x7039.
UPDATE: 7/10/19 7:45am UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who reached out, shared, and researched to help us find S2C Nick D'Amelio Jr.'s family. Please know that we have been in contact with the family this morning and are working with them to return the Purple Heart. We appreciate your support and the overwhelming encouragement to get this back to the family!