Union-Snyder CAA, home of Snyder County Veterans Affairs, is honored to have become the Home of Honor for a local WWII Veteran’s Purple Heart on Thursday, November 1, 2018, at 1:00 PM.
In July 2018, a local veteran came into the Union-Snyder CAA office with a framed Purple Heart; his daughter had located it and wanted to see if it could be returned to its rightful owner. To initiate the search, CAA’s Director of Veterans Affairs, Tony Korzenaski, contacted Purple Hearts Reunited, a nonprofit organization whose mission it is to return lost or stolen medals of valor to veterans or their families. Their research concluded that the award belonged to PVT Raymond W. McDevitt, born in Shamokin/Northumberland to Mary M. (Wolfe) Martz in 1909.
According to the research of Purple Hearts Reunited: “On 25 April 1942, PVT McDevitt was severely Wounded in Action from artillery and bombing strikes on Battery Cheney. He was being treated in the Fort Mills Hospital located in the Malinta Tunnel on Corregidor. The Island fell to the Japanese on 7 May, 1942 and PVT McDevitt died of his wounds two days later on the 9th of May. His grave on Monkey Point was located after the Island was liberated in 1945 and his remains moved to the American Cemetery located outside of Manila, Philippines. He is buried in grave N, 15, 53.”
On the day before Independence Day, Union-Snyder CAA learned that PVT McDevitt does not have any close Next of Kin. His mother and father both passed in September 1937 and he lived with his Aunt prior to enlistment in January 1940. Therefore, upon the recommendation of Purple Hearts Reunited and the permission of the original holder of the award, Union-Snyder CAA will become the Home of Honor for PVT McDevitt’s Purple Heart.
Union-Snyder CAA and Snyder County Veterans Affairs is privileged to provide this Home of Honor in our office on Bridge Street in Selinsgrove.
