Overview
- At Oak Lawn VFW Post 5220 on Nov. 10, State Treasurer Michael Frerichs presented James R. Bennett’s Purple Heart to his niece, Patty Knies.
- The medal was found in a safe‑deposit box in wife Ann Bennett’s name that was turned over to the state as unclaimed property in 2022.
- Army rifleman Bennett was wounded in France on Aug. 13, 1944, and in Germany on Dec. 13, 1944, before returning home in December 1945.
- The handover marks the 17th Purple Heart reunited through the treasurer’s Operation Purple Heart, with six more medals awaiting family identification.
- Frerichs urged anyone with information to contact the treasurer’s office via the Operation Purple Heart webpage to help reunite remaining medals.