S.J. Vet Loses Purple Heart; Fellow Soldier Finds It

MORGAN HILL, CA -- Jeff Simon may have dodged yet another bullet when he discovered while moving that he lost his briefcase with his Purple Heart and another military medal in it. But luckily, a man out walking his dogs on Cosmo Avenue found it -- especially since he's also a veteran who recognized the rare medal.

The Morgan Hill Police Department intervened and reunited Simon with Lenny Kurtz – two men who both served as Corpsmen in the military during the Vietnam War; Simon, 75, joining the U.S. Navy assigned by the U.S. Marines in 1966, and Kurtz, 68, with the U.S. Army starting in 1959.

It was serendipity the men crossed paths.

“What?” Simon told Patch of his initial reaction when Sgt. Troy Hoefling called to describe the satchel items found by Kurtz on Tuesday at 5 p.m. “Yes, those are mine. It was quite a surprise to me because I didn’t know they were missing.”

Simon realized that with nine people helping him move an entire household from San Jose to Boulder Creek in the Santa Cruz Mountains someone must have pulled away from the caravan of trucks without the satchel.

Simon received the Purple Heart for his heroic efforts to save his fellow soldiers in a company of 21 men patrolling a river. Two mine blasts prompted him to take charge, ordering a few men to take care of one man in shock on the first and helicopters on the next. The second blast from two feet away sent him hurtling 12 feet in the air on the riverbank on his feet.

Bleeding profusely with shrapnel in his back, Simon as an elite “Force Recon” (Special Forces) soldier grabbed the radio from a badly injured radio-pack hauler and yelled: “How many helicopters do you have? We’ve all been hit.”

In four years, Simon raked in a dozen medals under his belt by serving in a reconnaissance unit. Along with the Purple Heart, Simon carried an Army Commendation medal in the briefcase.

Simon was grateful Kurtz found the medals because they represent a time in his life in which he overcame high odds to survive. He’s consequently partly deaf with an ailing heart from the effects of the Agent Orange chemical used in warfare.

“I think (the medals) are important to me. I think most people wouldn’t know what it took to get them,” he said.

A Purple Heart is a military decoration first awarded in 1932 and given out in the name of the president to those wounded or killed while serving.

Kurtz told Patch he recognized it right away when he saw the box in the briefcase.

“I thought thank God the Purple Heart is still there,” he said.

The two men living 43 miles apart expressed interest in remaining friends.

Hoefling was also inspired that he got to take part in reuniting the two former soldiers at the police station on Wednesday.

“For all the negative stuff we go through (as an officer), it’s wonderful to be a part of this,” the detective said.

--Image courtesy of Morgan Hill Police Department