(STORY IMAGE:KHQ.COM)
SANDPOINT, Idaho -They say one manās trash is anotherās treasure, and thatās exactly what one Sandpoint woman learned when she found a Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and other WWII medals at a yard sale.
Kahla Howard found the medals at an old neighbors moving sale last year, but after a year of trying to find the veteran who earned them, Howard finally took her quest to Facebook.
āWhat he must have went through to get those medals, I donāt want that to go to waste,ā said Howard. āI wanted the family to know that he still had them so they could cherish them.ā
The search started when Howard accidentally came across the box of medals she initially thought were empty. But once she opened them, she knew who to begin looking for.
The name Samuel R Grijalva was etched on the back of the medals.
Along with a picture of the Purple Heart, Howard shared this information in her Facebook post. Almost immediately, people started to chime in.
āIām just glad thereās people out there just like me that care about these things,ā said Howard. āAnd it matters to them that theyāre returned to their owner and respected.ā
Shortly after the post was shared and commented on dozens of times, someone found Grijalva on Ancestry.com. Howard reached out to the family and finally got in touch with Grijalvaās grandson. Grijalva died in 2001, but the family was excited to hear that a part of him could be returned to them.
āI know Iām the type of person if a million dollars fell on the ground Iād find the owner,ā said Howard.
Howard went to the post office with the medals on Tuesday and shipped them to Grijalvaās grandson who lives in New Mexico.
How the medals ended up in Sandpoint is still a mystery, but Howard is just happy theyāre back where they belong.