WW II Medals Returned To Kansas Family

A Purple Heart medal and other items belonging to a Kansas soldier killed in World War II has been returned to his family.

Purple Hearts Reunited presented the medal awarded decades ago to PFC Alvie Leroy Scott to his niece, Mary Strotkamp, during a ceremony Saturday at the Liberty Memorial.

Scott, who was born in Harvey County, Kansas was serving with the 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Division, when he was killed January 24th, 1945 during battle in Belgium. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, and also had been awarded several other honors, including the Bronze Star.

Scott’s medals were found at an antique store in New York. Vermont-based Purple Hearts Reunited bought the medals and other items and returned them to Strotkamp, who lives in Centralia, Kansas.