Decades later, Sparta native’s Purple Heart finds permanent home

SPARTA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — What started as a surprising discovery inside an American flag disposal bin has led to the preservation of one West Michigan soldier’s story more than 80 years after his death.

About a year ago, volunteers at the Charles A. Conklin American Legion Post 28 in Grand Haven were sorting through retired American flags when they found something unexpected.

Inside a bag placed in the post’s U.S. flag retirement drop box was a World War II-era folded American flag, believed to be a burial flag, along with a Purple Heart medal still inside its original case…

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