Purple Heart medal returned to family of WWII soldier
Photo from Orleans County Sheriff’s Office
ROCHESTER – Orleans County Sheriff Chris Bourke speaks during a “Reuniting A Heart” ceremony in Rochester on Wednesday.
A Purple Heart that was awarded 1st Lieutenant Herbert W. Stanford was returned to his family. The medal had been in evidence storage in the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office. Investigator Kevin Colonna was doing routine evidence management when he saw the medal and then worked to identify who it belonged to and to get it back to his family.
Stanford was a P-47 fighter pilot who was shot down in France during World War II. He was killed in the plane crash. His medal was donated to a museum in Brockport and was stolen about 20 years ago by thieves.
Colonna teamed with Bill Scribner, a retired Albion police officer who now is the police chief for the VA Finger Lakes. The medal had a number on it and then were able to connect it to Stanford, a Brockport High School graduate.
