Found in a dump, lost Purple Heart medal heading to family

Do You Believe In Miracles? Found in a dump, lost Purple Heart medal heading to family.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The family of Wiljo Matalamaki clung to his Purple Heart, a tribute to a young man sent to World War II who never returned, whose body was never found. Then the medal, too, was lost.

For decades, they wondered where it went. It took a random discovery at a dump, an offhand remark from a neighbor and a chance visitor, but nearly half a century after it was lost, the medal will be returned to his relatives this weekend.