WWII Vet Hoping for Miraculous Return of Treasured Kkeepsake

[Shanghai Jack]

http://www.pathfinderonline.co.uk/articles...asured-keepsake

 

WWII Vet Hoping for Miraculous Return of Treasured Keepsake

 

 

On a framed cardboard mat assembled with love by his wife of 70 years, Harold "Hal" Roberts proudly displays his medals from World War II. They include the Purple Heart for injuries suffered during the liberation of France. None of them, though, mean more to him that the one that isn't here.

 

"It's priceless to me," he says.

 

While Roberts was delivering messages on a motorcycle from the battlefields of Southern France to American generals, he came across a Frenchman foraging for food. "He would have eaten anything. I mean, a dandelion for soup," says Roberts. The soldier gave the stranger all three K-rations he had. "It was terrible stuff, but it filled your belly."

 

When Roberts crossed paths with the man again, he invited the soldier to dinner, a gesture of gratitude for the American's generosity. At the family's home he met the man's wife and their orphaned niece, who had lost her parents in Normandy. The girl was about 11 years old, and stood in awe of the soldier fighting to free her country.

 

"She literally hung on me," says Roberts. "She needed a hero, and I got to be it whether I liked it or not. They put me on a pedestal." The couple asked to take the paratrooper's "jump wings," a pin worn on an Airborne soldier's uniform, to be blessed by a local priest. When they returned the pin, the couple attached a medal of Saint Christopher, the Patron Saint of Safe Travel, and an inscription of that little girl's name, "Luisette."

 

"I teared up," says Roberts, who had hardened himself during his years of war. But the soldier, who survived the Battle of the Bulge, soon saw his stony exterior crumble away.

 

"There was something there," he says with tears streaming down his cheeks nearly seven decades later. "I guess I realized, I'm not numb."

 

Roberts carried the pin with him everywhere he went for 68 years, until it fell out of his pocket back in January - most likely in the parking lot of the QFC in Gig Harbor. It was heartbreaking for the 90-year-old vet who credits the pin, and the blessings from that little girl, with saving his life when his jeep hit a landmine.

 

"I should've been dead," he says, "but I survived without a scratch!"

 

Roberts says that moment helped him get through the rest of the war and was a turning point in his life. "That's when I knew there's a power greater than I am." Though he knows the pin is gone, Roberts holds out hope that one day it will turn up. Little Luisette died of tuberculosis shortly after giving him the pin, but not before forging a bond so remarkable that the soldier can barely describe it.

 

"Maybe someday I'll be able to put words to it," Roberts says, choking back tears, "but at this time...it's too much."

 

The pin is sterling silver and was inside a brown leather coin purse. If you have any idea where it is, please email [email protected] or [email protected] and we'll get it back to Mr. Roberts.

[ArchangelDM]

I hope the medal gets returned, I truly do

[agate hunter]

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...howtopic=137842

 

i posted a topic about this same thing as well.

[Legion Para]

Another heart touching story from the Greatest Generation.

 

Lest We Forget.

[d6t]

It appears this story took place in the Seattle area. Do we have any members there? I am 3000 miles away, but if I was closer, I would drive even several hours with my metal detector to check the entire area where this gentleman may have lost his keepsake.

[David D]

I hope they find it I feel really bad for that veteran.

 

-Dave

[Jay Seay]

Wow. Miracles happen. I sure hope one does for this veteran. I would think the media in that area

may be interested in running a story, and showing that picture. The person who may have found it may

come forward with it. Or searchers may find it.

[suwanneetrader]

As this was posted over 2 years ago by "Shanghai Jack", who has not been on the Forum for approx. 2 years, it looks like we will never know the end of the story good or bad. Richard

[bellasilva]

That's pretty heartbreaking, it obviously meant the world to him. This thread can always be revived and bumped every once in a while.

 

Crazier things have happened than a vet reunited with something from his service years!