WWII Soldier's Lost Purple Heart Being Given To NYC Museum

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NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — A New York City museum will permanently display a once-lost Purple Heart medal that was awarded to a German-born American soldier who fought against the Nazis.

Members of Sgt. George Sahlmann's family will be present for a ceremony Monday evening at Manhattan's Museum of Jewish Heritage.

His Purple Heart and other medals were acquired from a military collector.

Vermont-based Purple Hearts Reunited says Sahlmann was able to slip out of Germany in 1937 and make his way to the U.S.

He was working as a Brooklyn barber when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1943.

Sahlmann was a combat infantryman in several units during World War II and served in Africa, Italy and France. He was wounded three times.

Sahlmann died in 2006 at age 95.