Las Vegas Sun

April 26, 2024

In this Thursday, July 31, 2014, photo, veteran John Trinca stands outside his home in Antioch Township, Ill. Trinca was with U.S. Army Pvt. Thomas Bateman, a soldier he had just met in the Philippines in 1945 in World War II, when Bateman was killed by Japanese machine gun fire. The Purple Heart that Bateman paid for with his life became lost and was eventually found in the 1950s by Tom McAvoy as a kid in Chicago. Trinca will be on hand Sunday, Aug. 3, 2014, when the Purple Heart will be returned to Bateman’s family in Grayslake, Ill.

Paul Valade / AP

In this Thursday, July 31, 2014, photo, veteran John Trinca stands outside his home in Antioch Township, Ill. Trinca was with U.S. Army Pvt. Thomas Bateman, a soldier he had just met in the Philippines in 1945 in World War II, when Bateman was killed by Japanese machine gun fire. The Purple Heart that Bateman paid for with his life became lost and was eventually found in the 1950s by Tom McAvoy as a kid in Chicago. Trinca will be on hand Sunday, Aug. 3, 2014, when the Purple Heart will be returned to Bateman’s family in Grayslake, Ill.