thedrifter
05-24-06, 07:07 AM
HEARTFELT
From a ruined home, a builder uncovers a Purple Heart, a father's gift that the owner feared was lost forever
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
By Steve Ritea
Staff writer
It was near the end of another hot day of backbreaking work gutting homes in Gentilly, the time of day when contractor Melvin Zamora is busy scooping up chunks of debris with his shovel and eager to finish a shift.
But as dusk set in Monday, he began using a less efficient but more exact tool -- his hands -- to sift through the rubble in the bedroom of former renter Troy LeBrane, an evacuee now living in Atlanta.
"I found this little cardboard jewelry box and I was just about ready to throw it -- I thought it was empty -- and then it just popped open," he recalled.
Zamora, who had served as an Army staff sergeant in the first Gulf War, immediately recognized the gold heart with George Washington's bust as a Purple Heart. A few hours later, he turned it over to his boss, Kevin Parker, who managed to hook up with LeBrane, the medal's owner, through her former landlord.
Although many Purple Hearts have been lost to Katrina's floodwaters, officials with the Military Order of the Purple Heart, a nonprofit representing 36,000 of the medal's nearly half a million recipients, said this is the first they know to be recovered since the storm.
LeBrane received the medal from her father 16 years ago, on the day of her Catholic confirmation. Her father, Joseph Melton, had earned two Purple Hearts while serving in Vietnam.
"I wanted to give her something so she could remember me forever," Melton said. "I told her I'm blessed to be alive and have her."
He kept the other one for himself.
Melton earned the first Purple Heart in 1966, when he was caught in an ambush and shot in the abdomen while serving as a squad leader in the Marines. Two years later, he earned the other as a platoon sergeant when he was shot near the shoulder.
The Purple Heart is awarded to members of the military who are wounded in battle or to their next of kin if they die from wounds received in action.
Though she lost much to the 6 feet of water that flooded the apartment she shared with her husband on Eads Street, LeBrane said the belief that she had forever lost her father's Purple Heart tore her up inside.
In the frenzy to pack up their car and evacuate to Dallas before Hurricane Katrina, LeBrane had remembered her marriage license, Social Security card and other personal effects, but didn't remember the Purple Heart until it was too late -- they were already in Texas.
In October, she returned to Eads Street. And although LeBrane and her husband, Myron, found one of the two items she was hoping to recover, a college degree she earned last year, they never found the medal.
Next week, she'll get it back when she and her husband return to New Orleans from their temporary home in Atlanta.
Melton said he was thrilled when his daughter called Tuesday morning to tell him it had been found. "I leapt for joy," he said.
Zamora, who has found several wedding rings since he began gutting homes damaged by Katrina, said he's become more careful in sorting through the ruins of peoples' lives. Although others have been touched to have those items returned, giving this one back will be especially memorable, he said.
Steve Ritea can be reached at sritea@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3396.
Ellie
From a ruined home, a builder uncovers a Purple Heart, a father's gift that the owner feared was lost forever
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
By Steve Ritea
Staff writer
It was near the end of another hot day of backbreaking work gutting homes in Gentilly, the time of day when contractor Melvin Zamora is busy scooping up chunks of debris with his shovel and eager to finish a shift.
But as dusk set in Monday, he began using a less efficient but more exact tool -- his hands -- to sift through the rubble in the bedroom of former renter Troy LeBrane, an evacuee now living in Atlanta.
"I found this little cardboard jewelry box and I was just about ready to throw it -- I thought it was empty -- and then it just popped open," he recalled.
Zamora, who had served as an Army staff sergeant in the first Gulf War, immediately recognized the gold heart with George Washington's bust as a Purple Heart. A few hours later, he turned it over to his boss, Kevin Parker, who managed to hook up with LeBrane, the medal's owner, through her former landlord.
Although many Purple Hearts have been lost to Katrina's floodwaters, officials with the Military Order of the Purple Heart, a nonprofit representing 36,000 of the medal's nearly half a million recipients, said this is the first they know to be recovered since the storm.
LeBrane received the medal from her father 16 years ago, on the day of her Catholic confirmation. Her father, Joseph Melton, had earned two Purple Hearts while serving in Vietnam.
"I wanted to give her something so she could remember me forever," Melton said. "I told her I'm blessed to be alive and have her."
He kept the other one for himself.
Melton earned the first Purple Heart in 1966, when he was caught in an ambush and shot in the abdomen while serving as a squad leader in the Marines. Two years later, he earned the other as a platoon sergeant when he was shot near the shoulder.
The Purple Heart is awarded to members of the military who are wounded in battle or to their next of kin if they die from wounds received in action.
Though she lost much to the 6 feet of water that flooded the apartment she shared with her husband on Eads Street, LeBrane said the belief that she had forever lost her father's Purple Heart tore her up inside.
In the frenzy to pack up their car and evacuate to Dallas before Hurricane Katrina, LeBrane had remembered her marriage license, Social Security card and other personal effects, but didn't remember the Purple Heart until it was too late -- they were already in Texas.
In October, she returned to Eads Street. And although LeBrane and her husband, Myron, found one of the two items she was hoping to recover, a college degree she earned last year, they never found the medal.
Next week, she'll get it back when she and her husband return to New Orleans from their temporary home in Atlanta.
Melton said he was thrilled when his daughter called Tuesday morning to tell him it had been found. "I leapt for joy," he said.
Zamora, who has found several wedding rings since he began gutting homes damaged by Katrina, said he's become more careful in sorting through the ruins of peoples' lives. Although others have been touched to have those items returned, giving this one back will be especially memorable, he said.
Steve Ritea can be reached at sritea@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3396.
Ellie