MyMilitaryMedals.com Blog
The Value of Military Awards
January 27th 2012 - 12:10 pm
I just read a completely disturbing article on the internet. It occurred in Villa Rica, GA where a group of coward burglars broke into a woman’s house who happened to be the mother of a deceased soldier. The burglars ransacked her home stealing $10,000 worth of personal belongings including her television, other electronics, her jewelry box, but most heart wrenching- her deceased son’s military medals. I thought to myself how disgusting. How could those burglars look at those military awards and not feel completely full of shame.
The soldier’s name was Mike Hardegree. He was an Army Sgt. who died September 10, 2007 with 6 other soldiers after their vehicle unfortunately flipped over in Iraq. These pathetic burglars stole all of this honorable soldier’s military medals as well as the Gold Star military award that was given to his family by the Department of Defense after his passing. The mother had made this particular military honor into a locket, and was most deeply hurt by its loss to her.
Reading this article, I was nearly brought to tears. This woman’s son would duplicate all of his military medals and awards he received and give them to her when he returned home from combat telling her she had earned them, too.
These military medals were all this mother had left of her deceased son. She felt as if she had lost him all over again. She had planned on passing his military awards down to her grandchildren in order to keep his remembrance alive.
She asked the burglars to honor a man who had lost his life serving our country by returning the military awards back to her.
I’d imagine that no amount of money these disgusting burglars receive for these cherished military medals could come close to the worth this family has for them. I do not understand what good these military medals would be to someone who didn’t earn them or understand the true cost these honors represented. I pray these burglars are found or at the least whosever hands these military awards end up in have enough respect to return them to this brave man’s family in which they belong.
Take Care of Your Military Awards
January 17th 2012 - 9:40 am
Just about everyone in the United States has a family member that is either serving, or has server in the United States military. The percentage of people with a current connection with an active duty member is much less today, than it was thirty to forty years ago. When I was young we were coming out of the Vietnam War, and a lot of the young men from our small community had been shipped off to war, and were making their rotation from battlefield to state side. Prior to the Vietnam War we had many military assignments worldwide that kept the volume of soldiers at a very high level. During the Korean War we had members from all branches of the armed forces involved, and we were a very efficient fighting force. We were a much better prepared military after learning many valuable lessons in World War I, and World War II. As we look back at our military history, we can be proud of how the US fighting forces have performed and answered the call of duty. During the last eighty years of service we have all in some way been associated with one of these brave soldiers. Most of our grandfathers, or fathers engaged in combat, and we have been privileged to hear the stories, and see the military awards that were presented to the great warriors. There are always those that for one reason or another that lose or misplace their military ribbons, and it is usually a family member that in later years attempts to acquire replacement military medals. It is very understandable that family members would want to recreate these family heirlooms, and symbols of the family’s military history. There are few other occupations that one tries to put the pieces back together to remember a part of history. Many of our forefathers worked with the railroad, or in an auto manufacturing plant, but we do not try to find tangible items to collect to hold on to these memories. It is much easier to establish a record of one’s military service, because this is an area that records are kept, and men and women are honored for their service. If an individual is looking to put together these military awards, there are many resources available to help gather the information, and a few companies willing to help replace these treasured pieces of history. If you are a veteran, or still serving this country, take the time to preserve and protect your military awards for the generations to come, for they will be telling stories about you and the awesome service that you provided to this country.
