WAYNESBORO, Va. — Workers at a Virginia recycling plant are looking for the rightful owners of a Purple Heart medal that was left in a car destined to be destroyed.
Last week, the prestigious medal was found in a Kia that had been taken to Gerdau Metals Recycling in Waynesboro, Virginia.
As workers were searching for the car for any hazardous materials before it got recycled, an employee found the Purple Heart.
"We were receiving cars from a local company that had been repossessing, as well as picking up abandoned vehicles," Gerdau manager Leroy Wells told WHSV.
The recycling center workers were trying to track down the medal’s owners and there were some clues left behind in the vehicle.
"The box itself appears to be from the Korean War or possibly the World War II era. We found paperwork that came from the Veteran's Association, where apparently he had been there for medical reasons and following up," Wells told WHSV.
Wells said that while the medal doesn’t have a monetary value, there is sentimental value and respect for the veteran who was awarded it in the line of duty.
In an update to the story posted on the WHSV's Facebook page, Wells wrote believes they found family members of the medal's owner and are working on reuniting them with the artifact.