Purple Heart given to Ohio brother of WWII soldier

November 10, 2011 at 4:05p.m.

COLUMBUS (AP) — The lost Purple Heart of a World War II soldier who died in the D-Day invasion has been given to his Ohio brother after being anonymously left at a veterans’ shelter in Maryland.

The Columbus Veterans Affairs Ambulatory Care Center presented the honor to John Matyskella during a Veterans Day ceremony today.

Matyskella’s brother, Pfc. Donald Matyskella, served with the Army’s 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment and is buried at the Normandy American Cemetery in France.

His Purple Heart was left six months ago at the shelter in Hagerstown, Md., then turned over to the Martinsburg VA Medical Center in West Virginia.

Staff there traced Matyskella to central Ohio as well as a tribute wall in Athens County in southeast Ohio.

Athens County officials helped locate John Matyskella in Columbus.