LENA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A Purple Heart from World War I has been returned to a relative of the man who earned it. That man is Private First Class John Francis Hansel’s great nephew, Jake Neta of Lena.
“It makes me very proud, that that blood runs in me, that I became an officer in the service. We, the Neta’s and the Hansel’s did what they had to do for your freedom and for your freedom and for everybody else’s freedom,” Neta said.
The medal was found in the home of someone who was moving.
Hansel was born in Medford, Wisconsin and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917.
He served with Battery B, 120th Field Artillery Regiment, 32nd Division.
In 1918, he was wounded in World War I.
Hansel died in Minnesota 40 years later.
Until Hansel’s Purple Heart resurfaced, Neta did not know much about him.
“I had no knowledge of my great uncle being in the service… I didn’t know the man, but I can honor the man,” Neta said.
Neta is a Vietnam veteran himself.
“I did things I never knew I could do, physically and mentally,” Neta said.
A Vermont-based nonprofit organization, Purple Hearts Reunited, returned Hansel’s Purple Heart.
“We go out to different families throughout the country, and we, in person, will present these medals back to families when the medal was lost or stolen. They’re not only Purple Hearts, but they’re other medals of valor as well,” Purple Hearts Reunited Valor Guard Michael Brennan said.
Neta stresses the importance of honoring all veterans.
The Purple Heart medal is given to U.S. military members who have been wounded or killed as a result of enemy action.
