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Galena soldier’s Purple Heart to be returned to family

The nonprofit Purple Hearts Reunited on Friday will present the medal belonging to Pvt. Harrison Boyd Virtue to his great-niece.

GALENA, Ill. (AP) — A Purple Heart earned by a Galena man nearly a century ago will be returned to his family.

The nonprofit Purple Hearts Reunited on Friday will present the medal belonging to Pvt. Harrison Boyd Virtue to his great-niece.

Virtue was born in Galena — 160 miles northwest of Chicago — in 1888. He enlisted in the U.S. Army infantry in 1918. He was in France when he was injured by a German-launched mustard-gas attack. He inhaled more fumes the next day and spent months recovering.

Virtue ran a moving company in Lynwood, California after the war. He was presented with a Purple Heart in May 1941. He died in May 1961.

A member of Purple Hearts Reunited’s Valor Rescue Team procured the medal from an online memorabilia dealer.

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