Relatives Of Slain WWII Soldier Get Replacement Purple Heart

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. (AP) - A Purple Heart certificate belonging to a Michigan soldier who died in World War II and which was later was discovered in a Jerusalem used map shop is being returned to his family.

Robert Mathis' family will receive a new Purple Heart medal Sunday during a ceremony at the Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus in Farmington Hills, northwest of Detroit.

Mathis lived in the Detroit-area and was an Army combat engineer when he was slain at Anzio in Italy.
Allyse Denmark says a U.S. Army official saw her great-uncle's Purple Heart certificate in Jerusalem and had his next of kin researched. The original medal has not been found.

Denmark says the original certificate and medal may have been taken to Israel by another family member.
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