Heartwarming end to riddle of military medal
Irish family of World War Two Purple Heart hero tracked down
A HUNT for the owner of a prestigious US military medal led searchers almost 5,000km across the Atlantic to an Irish relative with the same name.
The Purple Heart – awarded to those who were injured or died during active service – was found when a Second World War military veteran’s home was being cleaned out in the city of Attleboro, Massachusetts.
Searchers had little information about the owner but found a death notice, an old address in the Boston suburb of Dorchester and the sailor’s name Hugh Farren carved into the back of the medal.
Following research Ben Quelle, Attleboro’s director of veteran services, discovered that 39-year-old Mr Farren served aboard the USS Liscome Bay, which sank in the Pacific on Thanksgiving Day in 1943.
He was presumed dead as his body was lost at sea.
BRIDGE
His surviving sister was presented with the Purple Heart but it somehow ended up in the apartment of a firefighter who knew the fallen navy man.
Mr Quelle also discovered a vital clue in his search for Mr Farren’s relatives when he realised that in 1962 the city of Boston named a pedestrian bridge in Dorchester after him.
He put out a public appeal and was contacted by someone who had holidayed in Ireland.
Mr Quelle received an email on Thursday revealing the person had recently visited Farren’s Bar in Donegal’s Malin Head.
The visitor had chatted to a man named Hugh Farren, who recognised the tourist’s accent and recounted how there was a footbridge named after his uncle.
Mr Quelle and the Boston TV news channel Newscenter5 made contact with the bar and spoke to the barman who explained he was named after his grand uncle, who was awarded the Purple Heart.
Speaking to Newscenter5, Mr Farren’s nephew Hugh said: “The thought a man who left here is still remembered and we have proof that the work that he did when he did leave the island was something good, it means a lot for a lot of people.”