INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — A long-lost Purple Heart medal that represents the life of a Kansas City World War II pilot is now in safe hands, thanks to a stranger who spotted it for sale at an auction in Gardner.
The medal belonged to 1st Lt. Wesley “Harold” Hunt, who was killed in action just days before his 21st birthday.
After a good Samaritan came across the Purple Heart being sold, they purchased it and donated it to the American Legion Post 21 in Independence so the veteran’s story wouldn’t be forgotten.
Hunt was born in Kansas City in 1923 and moved to Manhattan, Kansas, with his brother as a teenager. Both went on to become pilots during World War II.
The brothers died in combat just a month apart in 1944.
The Kansas City Public Library helped provide photos of Hunt, pulled from Kansas State University yearbooks, as the American Legion works to piece together more of his story.
Bob Ford, post adjutant at Post 21, knows the sacrifice this medal took to earn.
“I don't know that anybody goes in seeking to get a Purple Heart,” Ford said. “Mr. Hunt was first lieutenant in the Army Air Corps. He was the lead plane in a group of eight that were in Sicily, and they were heading toward a bridge that they were supposed to destroy … and he was lost. Killed in action.”
Ford says he’s proud to display the medal.
“When things like this come in, you start reflecting on your own service … what you were doing was very, very important,” Ford said. “We take it seriously when people trust us to be the custodians of those things.”
Ford hopes to eventually connect with any surviving relatives or historians who may want to preserve the medal or include it in an archive. For now, Hunt’s Purple Heart is safe and being treated with honor.
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KSHB 41 reporter Olivia Acree covers portions of Johnson County, Kansas. Share your story idea with Olivia.
