BANGOR, Maine — More than a decade after its disappearance, a Vietnam War soldier’s Purple Heart has returned home thanks to a chance visit to a Bangor coin shop.
Army Pvt. Larry J. Nadeau was just 18 years old and far away from his hometown of Orono when shrapnel wounds cut his life short. Since Pvt. Nadeau’s death on Jan. 2, 1966, photographs, letters and medals keep his memory alive for his younger brother, Allen Nadeau, who still lives in the family home in Orono.
His parents had signed paperwork allowing Larry Nadeau to join the military at age 17, making his death all the more difficult to handle, according to Allen Nadeau.
The Nadeau family received the medal, which had “Larry J. Nadeau” inscribed on the back, a level of personalization that is usually reserved for medals that are issued posthumously.
Nadeau’s Purple Heart came from a stockpile of medals that were crafted in 1944 in preparation for casualties and injuries that would stem from a U.S. invasion of the Japanese mainland that never happened, according to Paul Zebiak, owner of Maritime International, a downtown Bangor historical memorabilia, coin and jewelry dealer.
Nadeau said that sometime around 2000, he loaned his brother’s Purple Heart and several other medals and possessions from his brother’s military career to Vietnam Veterans of America, which planned to take them to schools and events for educational purposes.
Somehow, the medal was lost. Nadeau said he had tried many times over the years to get the Purple Heart back, but the organization told him it was either in storage or that they couldn’t find it.
Frustrated, Nadeau said he submitted a request to the federal government seeking a replacement medal, but he also wrote a letter in January to the the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 185, which had undergone a change in leadership, asking for help finding the missing Purple Heart, as well as a bracelet his brother wore and two other badges.
Ted Pietz of Franklin, vice president of the veterans group chapter, said he felt for Nadeau and started asking around and researching in an attempt to find the medal. Pietz said he has been trying for 40 years to get his Purple Heart after field records of his injury were lost during the Vietnam War.
After seeing an advertisement for Maritime International, Pietz decided to stop into the Central Street shop and ask about the medal while he was in Bangor during the first week of June.
On a whim, Pietz walked in and asked Zebiak if he had seen the Purple Heart or had seen the name Larry J. Nadeau.
“You’ve come to the right place,” Zebiak said before going to one of his cases to retrieve the medal and other items associated with Larry Nadeau, which he obtained at the same time as the Purple Heart.
Pietz said he was shocked and had to go to a chair in the corner of the store to sit down. He called Nadeau soon after.
“That phone call I’ll never forget,” Nadeau said Monday.
Zebiak said the medal had been in his shop for more than a decade and that he bought it from a couple that he believed at the time had legitimate ownership of it.
The next week, Nadeau came to the store and Zebiak gave him the medal. The two spent several hours at the shop talking about Larry Nadeau, his service and his medal.
“You never know where the whim or winds will blow,” said Wayne S. Cartier, vice president of the Maine branch of Vietnam Veterans of America.
Zebiak said he often has files filled with information on people attached to the objects in his collection. That includes one on Larry Nadeau. Nadeau’s file includes military records of his service and a list of badges and pins he earned. He said he forms a relationship of sorts with those names by digging up this information.
During a visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., a few years ago, Zebiak looked for Nadeau’s name because he had formed a connection with the name on the back of that Purple Heart, Zebiak said.
He found the name in row 48 of panel 4E, a “powerful experience,” Zebiak said.
While a Purple Heart is just a piece of metal attached to a ribbon, it represents much more.
“They’re important symbols of someone’s sacrifice, devotion to duty and love of country,” Zebiak said.
To Nadeau, it is a relic that carries on the brief relationship he had with his brother, who went into the military when the younger Nadeau was just 8 or 9 years old. He said the brief connection they had persists through his brother’s medals, photographs and letters.
:)
I’m very happy that this man was able to recover his brothers medal. However, it is illegal to buy or sell a purple heart.
uh, it’s not illegal at all. do a little searching and you’ll see.
Yeah, it’s just a bad idea. Why would you buy one with someone else s name on it?
The Stolen Valor act of 2005 makes it illegal.
“The Act made it illegal for unauthorized persons to wear, buy, sell, barter, trade, or manufacture “any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the armed forces of the United States, or any of the service medals or badges awarded to the members of such forces.” In the 18 months after the act was enacted, the Chicago Tribune estimated there were twenty prosecutions. The number increased as awareness of the law spread.”
The Stolen Valor Act was overturned by the Supreme Court, but the decision was under the radar and got little attention because it was made at the same time as the health care ruling.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/for-military-honorees-stolen-valor-is-more-than-name-of-overturned-law-_-its-reality/2012/07/01/gJQA9Hm5FW_story.html
18 USC § 704 – Military medals or decorations ……
Whoever knowingly wears, purchases, attempts to purchase,
solicits for purchase, mails, ships, imports, exports, produces blank
certificates of receipt for, manufactures, sells, attempts to sell, advertises
for sale, trades, barters, or exchanges for anything of value any decoration or
medal authorized by Congress for the armed forces of the United States, or any
of the service medals or badges awarded to the members of such forces, or the
ribbon, button, or rosette of any such badge, decoration or medal, or any
colorable imitation thereof, except when authorized under regulations made
pursuant to law, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six
months, or both.
(d) Enhanced Penalty for Offenses Involving Certain Other Medals.— If a decoration or medal involved in an offense described in subsection (a) or (b) is a
distinguished-service cross awarded under section 3742 of title 10, a Navy cross awarded under section 6242 of title 10, an Air Force cross awarded under section 8742 of section 10, a silver star awarded under section 3746, 6244, or 8746 of title 10, a Purple Heart awarded under section 1129 of title 10, or any replacement or duplicate medal for such medal as authorized by law, in lieu of the punishment provided in the applicable subsection, the offender shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both.
Such a nice piece of journalism above all the stuff that normally goes on. Reminds us on this 4th to remember all our Service men & women. That no one should ever be forgotten, that they are there to remind us of their ulitmate sacrifice to us.
Editors…..how does a medal “go missing”? Oh, perhaps it rose from its silk lined container and walked off, or better yet, jumped onto the dogs back never to return. It is an inanimate item, it does not go anywhere. Where you taught in the south? This is a southern colloquialism that is ravaging the country. Sorry to see your writer and editor fell into the soft trap of slang.
Sorry they ruined your day. How dare they use a commonly used and accepted southern colloquialism. Next thing you know we’ll see “y’all” or “fixin’ to” — these phrases are the harbingers of The End of Days! Seriously, there are bigger problems “ravaging the country” than the BDN saying a medal went missing.
Good Job well done Allen, your Dad would be proud of ya ! I think about Larry from the old days going to High School in Orono and living down the basin in Crow Valley.
Take Care My Friend,
Les Martin
“Either in storage or that they couldn’t find it.” Inexcusable, wrong, sloppy and not the type of thing a family who gave a son needs to go through with items that provide a tangible link to their loved one. Happy ending though, kudo’s to the new leadership for bird dogging this.
So glad for you and your family on the medal recovery, but sorry for the loss of your brother! I am a combat Veitnam Vet. We must always remember that some gave all for this great country of ours. Your brother is a true hero!!! God bless you and yours!! Ed Thorne Hermon, Me.