Giving vets family back their medals

[tarbridge]

I have a GREAT idea.

 

For anyone worried about being contacted by families, they can package up their collections (only named/IDed items, of course) and send them to me.

 

Talk about a "win-win" situation for everyone!

Dave...paragraph 3 on page 2 of my booklet..."I want to Buy your Medals" states that also. ..Let your problem become my problem.

[USMCR79]

I also agree most of you. I have had three claims on this forum that the groupings that I am the care takers of belonged in their family. Each time, I offered the groupings for a price that I had paid for them. None of the three alleged family members contacted me to make the purchase. One alleged family member did threaten to send the NCIS to my house to seize the medals. For the past two years or so I have been waiting for Gibbs to show up. All three times the person indicated that I should simply return the medals to them.

 

I must also add... I will never leave a name out of a posting or alter the name with a dash or underscore as to prevent a search hit on the net.

 

Rocco - Maybe they will send Ziva instead!!

 

Bill

[0811gysgt]

 

Rocco - Maybe they will send Ziva instead!!

 

Bill

Bill,

 

That would be even better.

[historyfixer]

I also agree most of you.I wish this page had a like button. I thought that you all might like this article.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/08/zachariah-fike-purple-hearts-reunited_n_5662751.html

 

 

.

[Allan H.]

Zachariah Fike and his quest to return "stolen" Purple Hearts has been discussed here a number of times. My take on him is that he feels that any medal that doesn't have the current owner's name on it has either been stolen or accidentally lost and must be returned to the "rightful" owner, which I have always assumed is whoever didn't spend money to purchase the medal. While I salute him for his altruistic desires, I have to shake my head with the way the message is presented. I know a number of people who collect named medals and I wouldn't call a single one of them a thief. I look at websites dedicated to the memories of the soldiers who earned these medals as far more respectful than a family member sticking an old medal in a drawer or up in the attic.

 

Collectors/ historians like Tom Lane, Ed Meier, and Robert Wilson have done more to illuminate the stories of soldiers whose names show up on the back of these medals than Fike has ever done. Fike gets a lot of press and is evidently getting enough publicity to have around 300 medals a month turned over to him to be returned (as quoted in the article), but I just can't imagine that even by the most aggressively optimistic figures that this many medals have been stolen. This puts Purple Hearts up there with Honda Accords and Toyota Camrys with the most frequently stolen items in America.

 

I know that Mr. Fike thinks that he is doing the right thing, but my take is that his quest has gotten twisted with the media attention. As an aside- for those of you who think that Fike's notoriety is no big deal, let me tell you this. People who gain notoriety suddenly become the "experts" on whatever subject because their name gets bandied about. The next thing you know, he is testifying before a congressional committee and suddenly ownership of a Purple Heart becomes the same as ownership of a Medal of Honor, and just like MOH's, we suddenly see the good ones migrating to Europe or Japan.

 

My dos centavos,

Allan

[unclegrumpy]

Nicely stated Allan!

[Garandomatic]

I agree with Allan. No real dog in the fight here, but I tend to fear that guy's message and his approach. My one named PH was rescued from a junk box at a flea market along with the WWI Victory Medal that it came with. Most normal people do not care about what their great-great grandpa did. People like us DO.

[Wharfmaster]

A number of years ago I listed a named medal for sale on a popular auction site. The soldier was KIA in a very famous battle and the medal was considered historically significant by some. A "do gooder" found my listing and reported my sale to a newspaper. "Man sells historic medal".

 

 

You can imagine how it went.

 

 

W

[aerialbridge]

W, as far as intermeddlers with a collector/preservationist's peaceful, lawful possession of military medals, Illegitimi non carborundum. The theme song should be "I hear you knockin', but you can't come in". Unless you choose to let them in, at whatever price or terms you choose to offer. Someone made an excellent point, if grampa's old Model "A" got sold or cast-off years ago, and a descendant manages to track it down, does (s)he have a "right" to have the old ride back gratis? Hardly. To each his own, but putting recipient's names on posts might allow other collectors/researchers to find a post, which might be a good thing for broken or incomplete groups, since if the parties strike a bargain, groups could be reunited or augmented. As the lawful owner, remember, you can always just "say no" to anybody if you don't want to sell or trade.

[History Man]

Zachariah Fike and his quest to return "stolen" Purple Hearts has been discussed here a number of times. My take on him is that he feels that any medal that doesn't have the current owner's name on it has either been stolen or accidentally lost and must be returned to the "rightful" owner, which I have always assumed is whoever didn't spend money to purchase the medal. While I salute him for his altruistic desires, I have to shake my head with the way the message is presented. I know a number of people who collect named medals and I wouldn't call a single one of them a thief. I look at websites dedicated to the memories of the soldiers who earned these medals as far more respectful than a family member sticking an old medal in a drawer or up in the attic.

 

Collectors/ historians like Tom Lane, Ed Meier, and Robert Wilson have done more to illuminate the stories of soldiers whose names show up on the back of these medals than Fike has ever done. Fike gets a lot of press and is evidently getting enough publicity to have around 300 medals a month turned over to him to be returned (as quoted in the article), but I just can't imagine that even by the most aggressively optimistic figures that this many medals have been stolen. This puts Purple Hearts up there with Honda Accords and Toyota Camrys with the most frequently stolen items in America.

 

I know that Mr. Fike thinks that he is doing the right thing, but my take is that his quest has gotten twisted with the media attention. As an aside- for those of you who think that Fike's notoriety is no big deal, let me tell you this. People who gain notoriety suddenly become the "experts" on whatever subject because their name gets bandied about. The next thing you know, he is testifying before a congressional committee and suddenly ownership of a Purple Heart becomes the same as ownership of a Medal of Honor, and just like MOH's, we suddenly see the good ones migrating to Europe or Japan.

 

My dos centavos,

Allan

 

I wholeheartedly agree with this. Fike's actions should be commended, but his stance towards the collecting community and his statements about medals in general are wrong. I can't even count the amount of times I myself have been offered a medal/group or have seen one posted that has come directly from the family. Like anything, these items are occasionally stolen but they are not in the majority of those around....very rarely are medals actually stolen. I believe Mr. Fike was a member of this very forum awhile back but his stay was short-lived due to this issue. Every time a medal is given back, the media is called in and there is usually an article as well as a photo shoot of the ceremony.....with the amount of media involved it is tough to judge one's motives. With the amount of media being placed on Fike, mixed with the constant statements of "stolen or lost," it is easy to see how this can quickly become a campaign for something else in the future....it almost seems like the groundwork for one.

 

I had a few conversations with Mr. Fike awhile back and we discussed the issue, but he remained firm on his position. He is proud of his self-imposed title of medal collector's number 1 enemy, crusader for returning the lost and stolen medals, along with the other titles that various media outlets have given him. Though, he wouldn't acknowledge any of my statements about this forum's medal collectors or the various collector websites or the various displays done around the country by collectors; just kept repeating the same statement on their website and stating that he has no respect for those who do not return lost or stolen medals to the rightful owner's.

 

I wonder how he and his organization feel about the family of MoMM2c Marney selling his Purple Heart and group?

 

Philip

[danrcalhoun]

I wonder if Mr. Fike has ever become aware of a family turning around and selling the medals that he returned. I would also be curious how he would respond to it.

[historyfixer]

I agree with Allan and history man, very well put. Also Garandomatic I cannot agree with you more that “Most normal people do not care about what their great-great grandpa did. People like us DO.” And because of that we buy these medals and we display these medals and we research these medals. Therefore keeping the memory of these brave men going until the next care giver has the medals.

 

Purple Heart box for PFC Clarence E. Alexander, Company A 255 Infantry 63^rd Division.