Vietnam Veteran Reunited With Purple Heart After Nearly 40 Years
ABC News bought the medal at a supply store and set out to find its owner.
— -- A Purple Heart once thought lost forever is now back home with its owner.
Last week, during a news story about a man accused of impersonating a Navy SEAL and claiming that he'd earned a Purple Heart, ABC News purchased an authentic Purple Heart for $40 at a military surplus store in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to show how easy it is to get one of the most revered military honors.
After the story aired, however, a new story took shape: finding Taft M. Joseph Jr., the man whose name was engraved on the back of the Purple Heart bought at the store.
ABC News located him in Overland Park, Kansas, but orchestrating a meetup proved difficult. Each time ABC News called, he hung up, likely thinking there was a telemarketer on the other end.
ABC News tracked down Joseph's brother and then finally got to visit the retired veteran.
Joseph, an Army lieutenant, said he'd suffered a head wound when his unit was attacked in Vietnam.
"My first tour of Vietnam. ... We got attacked. ... It was pretty bad," he said. "I bled a lot."
He was then awarded the medal. But sometime in the 1970s, it went missing. His wife, Peggy, bought him a new one but he said it wasn't the same.
"Whenever he would walk by ... he'd say, 'That's not my Purple Heart,'" his daughter Joni Williams said.
When ABC News reunited Joseph with the medal, even his wife couldn't help but get emotional.
"I never thought it would be found, ever. ... Let me have a kiss," she said to Joseph. "I'm so happy for you."
No one knew how the Purple Heart had ended up in Colorado Springs and it didn't seem to matter.
"It's got my name on it," Joseph said. "I forgot about that. It means a lot."
