Lansing, IL – A Lansing family has been reunited with a treasured piece of World War II history ahead of Memorial Day, as Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs returned a long-lost Purple Heart medal to the grandson of a local veteran.
Army Corporal Henry Van Der Noord earned the Purple Heart for injuries sustained in May 1945 while serving in the Philippines during the final months of World War II. The medal was returned this week to Christopher Reed, Van Der Noord’s grandson and a veteran himself.
According to the Illinois Treasurer’s Office, the Purple Heart had been stored in an abandoned safe deposit box and was recovered in 2020. It became the 13th such medal returned to a soldier’s family as part of “Operation Purple Heart,” a statewide initiative to reunite lost or forgotten military honors with rightful heirs.
Reed, now living in Georgia, recalled receiving the medal as a child but only fully grasped its significance years later during his own military service in the Air Force. “They just don’t hand these things out. A lot of people’s next of kin got them,” he said.
Henry Van Der Noord, one of four brothers who served in WWII, was injured by shrapnel on Luzon Island. All four brothers survived the war and went on to build lives in Lansing, including starting a construction business that created the Van Der Noord Apartments in the 1970s.
“Safeguarding and returning unclaimed property like this is one of the most meaningful parts of our work,” Frerichs said during the presentation. “These medals personify honor, sacrifice, and duty.”
A full list of unclaimed Purple Heart medals in Illinois can be found at operationpurpleheart.org.
Be sure to follow us on Instagram & like us on Facebook to stay up-to-date on more relevant news stories and SUPPORT LOCAL INDEPENDENT NEWS! Have something you’d like to let us know about? Message us on our social channels and let us know about it!
