MOBILE, Alabama — This holiday season, Josh Harley’s wish is to return several Army medals to their rightful owner.
In late November, Harley purchased the medals at a Mobile auction with the sole purpose of trying to find their owner.
“People have said I’m crazy to pay $50 just to try to get these medals back,” said Harley, “but me paying $50 for these medals is insignificant if that’s what it costs me to try to get it back.”
Harley said this is the first military memorabilia he has purchased at auction; he usually gravitates toward pre-World War I metal toys and autographed items that he can re-sell.
But the Purple Heart in the shadowbox collection of medals caught his attention.
“I have family in different branches of the service so I’m familiar with awards,” said Harley. “You have to have been wounded in a war to get the Purple Heart.”
The Purple Heart and another medal were inscribed with the recipient’s name, Tyson Johnson III, and Harley did an Internet search to learn more about him.
“I immediately typed in the guy’s name. There’s a national registry for anyone who has ever been awarded a Purple Heart,” said Harley.
His research revealed several news stories about Johnson, who was injured in a mortar attack while serving in Iraq in 2003 and faced severe difficulties when he returned home to Mobile in 2004.
“I wasn’t on my soapbox about it until I read the whole article and the way our government did him,” said Harley. “He was a young guy who comes back home disabled and because he didn’t serve the full three years he signed up for in the National Guard, they said, ‘We want our $3,000 (enlisting bonus) back’ after he gave up so much.”
“I think there were two or three other gentlemen injured in the same attack and the government messed up all their credit for life. They screwed up his livelihood. It makes me sick and hit home especially in today’s economy. It’s a very difficult situation to swallow if you’ve got any loyalty to your country.”
Harley has tried unsuccessfully to reach Johnson or his family in hopes of returning the medals and has no idea how they wound up in an auction, but wants Johnson to have them.
“We take for granted a lot of times the freedom we have and that when people come back from war and struggle so much. They come back with disabilities and are not so easily accommodated,” said Harley.
“I knew when I saw those medals they had more value than the price being asked. They were a sign to whoever received them.”
Harley has asked that Johnson or his family contact him at the following email address: joshuaharley83@yahoo.com.
Reply from Joshua Harley: "I am also thankful that I was able to find him, and I am returning the medals this Thursday. He was very grateful and spoke of how he had been praying for someone to return them. He like many injured warriors had fallen on hard times and lost his storage unit and the items were sold at auction. "
ReplyDeletePraise the Lord for man and women of conscience such as Joshua! Pastor Lee