NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S.-based organization that returns lost Purple Heart medals and other military decorations is presenting a Purple Heart to relatives of an Irish soldier killed in France while fighting for America during World War I.
Zachariah Fike, founder of Vermont-based Purple Hearts Reunited, says the medal will be presented to relatives of Pvt. Michael Walsh during a ceremony Friday at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin, Ireland.
Walsh was born in County Mayo in 1888. He emigrated to America in 1911 and worked as a freight handler in Manhattan. Walsh was serving in the Army's 29th Division when he was killed in action on Oct. 24, 1918.
Walsh was eligible for a posthumous Purple Heart and other medals. Fike helped arrange for the medals to be presented to Walsh's family in Ireland.
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