A Purple Heart award that a soldier who was wounded in action during World War II received was transferred to his family on Saturday after a woman found it in her father-in-law’s belongings.
Leo Delphus Duverney, born in North Adams, Mass., entered the U.S. Army in September 1943, according to Vermont News and Media, which reported the transfer. He served with the 15th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division and was wounded in the battle for Rome on May 26, 1944.
The Army honorably discharged him in December 1945, and he moved to southern Vermont to operate a garage. Duverney died in 1969.
He was honored with a Purple Heart for his military service, though his family only received it when Chrystal Moffitt, the daughter-in-law of one of Duverney’s friends in the military, Kenneth Moffitt, reportedly found the medal tucked in a box with service ribbons and paperwork dating back to the war.
“My husband is Terry Moffitt, and his father was Kenneth Moffitt, and he was good friends with Leo, and somehow when his dad passed, he ended up with a Purple Heart that Leo had given to Terry’s father to hold,” Chrystal Moffitt told Vermont News and Media.
“And so now we’re running across it. We were going through some things and decided to start looking into it. And I started to go onto the obituaries online, and got a list of names, and ended up in North Adams, which I guess that’s where everybody pretty much stayed,” she added.
Duverney had given the medal to Moffitt to look after and upon discovering it, Chrystal Moffitt hunted for its original owner.
US Involvement in World War II
Duverney was one of the more than 16 million American military members who served in World War II.
Over 400,000 of those died during the conflict, according to the National WWII Museum. The war lasted between 1939 and 1945.
The U.S. became involved when, on Sept. 16, 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act, requiring all men between 21 and 36 to register with local draft boards. When the Axis attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the U.S. started actively supplying Allied nations.
After emailing North Adams American Legion Post 125, Chrystal Moffitt was put in touch with Duverney’s great niece, Cynthia Burdick, and her husband, Jim.
They arranged an event this past Saturday to exhange the medal.
“Leo is my wife’s grandmother’s brother,” Jim Burdick said. “He kind of disappeared from the family for a number of years. “Her father’s a World War II vet, and it’s great to get Leo’s medals back where they’re going to be properly handled and displayed.
“So, this is a great honor to receive these from you. We really appreciate it.”
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