Local man reunited with great-uncle's Purple Heart medal

• Rick Lanthorn%2C of Thornport%2C was recently reunited with his great-uncle%27s Purple Heart medal.
• His relative Sgt. Frank Holsten was injured in World War I.
• The medal was discovered by Tish Harmon Bernath in a garage in Shelby.

NEWARK – When Rick Lanthorn thinks about his great-uncle Frank Holsten, he remembers hanging out on the weekends and watching the ball game on TV.

Holsten was a great guy, Lanthorn said. But he wasn't the kind of person who would make a fuss or talk about himself — especially about the time he spent serving in World War I.

So Lanthorn was blown away several weeks ago when he got a phone call from a distant cousin, Judi Holsten Guizado, whom he had never met.

"Do you remember Uncle Frank?" she asked Lanthorn. "They found his Purple Heart (medal) in Shelby, Ohio."

Lanthorn, who grew up in Newark and lives in Thornport, was shocked.

"I didn't even know he had a Purple Heart," he said. "I knew he went to (World War I) but didn't know he was a sergeant in the war or that he got shot."

Several weeks after that phone call, Lanthorn was able to hold his great-uncle's Purple Heart for the first time.

"I have no idea how it got (to Shelby)," he said. "He passed away 50 years ago and got the medal 100 years ago."

Wounded in combat

Holsten was born in 1893 in Eureka.

He was one of 10 children, and his family was very well-known in southern Columbus, Lanthorn said.

He enlisted in the Army in 1917 and served in WWI with the 166th Infantry Regiment in the 42nd Infantry Division. He was wounded in action in 1918, which earned him the Purple Heart. The decoration is given to soldiers who are wounded in combat by the enemy.

"He never talked about being shot, never talked about the Purple Heart, that wasn't the type of person he was," Lanthorn said. "But back then, they didn't talk about that kind of thing very much."

After leaving the military, Holsten lived in Columbus and Williamsport with his wife, Edna Holsten. He died in October 1967 at age 74.

"He passed away when I was 14," Lanthorn said. "He was just a really nice guy."

Lanthorn and his family always took care of Holsten's grave in Williamsport, laying wreaths and American flags. He had numerous military markers on his headstone, but no one knew about the Purple Heart.

'We finally found Frank'

Tish Harmon Bernath had never heard of anyone named Frank Holsten.

About 20 years ago, she was looking through the garage at her Shelby apartment and found a black box. Inside was his Purple Heart.

She gave it to her father, who put it in a lockbox. They hoped to find its owner, but back then, there weren't as many options to search for people online, Lanthorn said.

Harmon Bernath, who now lives in Montpelier, Ohio, said she found the medal again in 2010 after her father's death. She recently reached out on Facebook and tried to find its owner.

The photo of the medal was spread across the country and was ultimately shared with Zachariah Fike, founder of the nonprofit organization Purple Hearts Reunited. The organization works to return lost or stolen military medals of valor to veterans or their families.

Fike began researching Holsten's service record and genealogy. As he was searching, an article was posted online in a Richland County publication. Shortly after it was published, Guizado reached out to Fike and was able to connect Harmon Bernath with Lanthorn.

Lanthorn was able to share photos of Frank with her, and she decided to mail him the medal.

"If it were my family, I'd like to have it back," she said. "It's awesome we finally found Frank."

'The right thing to do'

As he reflects on the past few weeks, Lanthorn said, he gives all the credit to Harmon Bernath for never giving up hope of finding Holsten's family.

"There are a lot of things she could have done besides finding the owners of it," he said. "She picked the right thing to do. It's amazing that someone would go through all that effort."

Some military medals are stolen, whereas others are sold online for profit, he said.

"These are medals that ought to be on display. They deserve to be honored for eternity," he said. "It breaks my heart to see them sold online."

He and his family decided to buy a bronze Purple Heart marker for Holsten's grave. They also plan to donate his medal to Hamilton Township High School in Columbus, where it will be on permanent display.

Holsten lived in the area, and one of his nieces attended that high school. Lanthorn's son teaches government there, and the school has a strong tradition of honoring the military.

Every year, the school has a Veterans Night at a football game to honor residents who served. Lanthorn and his family will be at the next Veterans Night, on Sept. 4, to present the medal to the school.

"I don't want it to be in a drawer or lockbox or sold online," Lanthorn said. "We hope it starts something and they could obtain other medals. I think students should learn what it takes to get those medals. A lot of people who earned them never made it back."

Lanthorn said he'll probably never know how Holsten's medal ended up in Shelby. But he's grateful that it has been returned and will be used to honor other central Ohio veterans.

"I think Frank would like it," he said. "My mom said, 'He'd just be laughing and shaking his head (about all this.)' "

ajeffries@gannett.com

740-328-8544

Twitter: @amsjeffries

Learn more

If you or a relative is missing a Purple Heart medal or has found one, contact Purple Hearts Reunited by emailing purpleheartsreunited@gmail.com or going to purpleheartsreunited.org.