Texas-Born Korean War Vet’s Purple Heart Headed Back To Family

DENVER (AP) — A Purple Heart unearthed in a Denver backyard will soon be back with the family of the West Texas-born man who earned it.

His stepdaughter says the story of its loss and return brings back memories of the only father she ever knew.

After trying unsuccessfully to find relatives, Purple Hearts Reunited held a ceremony Sunday at the Denver grave of Korean War veteran Richmond L. Litman.

Leatra Plick told The Associated Press on Monday that a neighbor watching a news report about the ceremony called to alert her.

Litman was born in San Angelo, Texas, in 1926 and was wounded in action in South Korea in 1950, earning his Purple Heart. He moved his family in the 1950s from Texas to Denver, where he died in 1990.