Jacksonville, FL — Nearly 40 medals are sitting unclaimed with the State, and there’s now a new push to get them to their rightful owners.
Florida’s Chief Financial Officer has launched “Operation Return the Valor”, which is a mission to reunite these medals with the service men and women to which they were awarded, or heirs of the recipients. The medals include Purple Hearts, Bronze Stars, and Distinguished Flying Crosses which were left in safety deposit boxes and sent to the State under the unclaimed property program.
The State has identified eleven people as owners of the medals, and they’re asking for help tracking down anyone who knows them or their families: Earl R. Johnson, Dina R. Howard, John Woska, Richard Anderson, Charles Conklin, Jean Glaser, John J. Koss, Leah Eddington, Martha G. Perfetti, Richard Stephens, and Virgil Rice. The CFO’s office is not providing any region or counties where the safety deposit boxes with the medals came from, saying that information is often limited in these cases.
“Unclaimed property” includes financial assets that have been left inactive, abandoned, or otherwise unclaimed by the owner, like dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, safe deposit boxes, and similar areas. There is a set period of time for which owners can come forward to claim that property- generally five years, according to the CFO’s Office- before the property is remitted to the State. Anything that is remitted to the State is put toward public schools.
You can check for any unclaimed property you may have through the CFO.
To claim any property, including these medals, you must file a claim.
