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Captain Zachariah Fike is an Army National Guardsman on a special mission.
He finds Purple Heart medals for sale in antique stores and on the internet, buys them, tracks down their rightful owners, and returns them.
So far, he has reunited five families with lost medals.
The first one belonged to Corrado Piccoli, an Army translator who was killed in Europe during World War II.
At StoryCorps Captain Fike and that soldier’s sister, Adeline Rockko, remembered their first conversation.
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Piece Description
Captain Zachariah Fike is an Army National Guardsman on a special mission.
He finds Purple Heart medals for sale in antique stores and on the internet, buys them, tracks down their rightful owners, and returns them.
So far, he has reunited five families with lost medals.
The first one belonged to Corrado Piccoli, an Army translator who was killed in Europe during World War II.
At StoryCorps Captain Fike and that soldier’s sister, Adeline Rockko, remembered their first conversation.
Broadcast History
NPR's Morning Edition July 6, 2012
Transcript
Adeline Rockko (AR): I flooded him with questions. Bang bang bang. One right after the other.
Zachariah Fike (ZF): “What antique shop? Who are you?” She was very stern.
AR: After the conversation ended, I walked away from the phone and I says, “Oh my god, he’s so nice and he’s returning our medal and I treated him this way?” So I called you right back again, and apologized and thanked you then.
Now this medal was very precious to my parents. And, on special occasions, they’d take it out and let us touch it and hold it in our hand. And then my mother would put it back in the trunk in her bedroom. And for awhile I thought, What is the significance of this medal?
But as I grew older and missed my brother more and more, I realized well this is the only tangible thing that we have left. So I drove up to Watertown and met with you at your home.
ZF: Yeah, at that point I knew you meant bus...
Read the full transcript
Intro and Outro
INTRO:Time now for StoryCorps…
Today we'll hear from a National Guard Captain...with a special mission.
Zachariah Fike finds purple heart medals for sale in antique stores and on the internet.
He buys them, tracks down their rightful owners, and returns them.
At StoryCorps, Zac spoke with Adeline Rockko.
The FIRST purple heart Zac returned belonged to her brother, who was killed in Europe during World War II.
Here, they remember when Zac first got in touch.
OUTRO:That's Adeline Rockko with the man who found and returned her brother's Purple Heart, Army National Guard Captain Zac Fike at StoryCorps.
Captain Fike recently returned another lost medal to a family in Alabama. He tells us he's now 5 for 5.
This interview will be archived at the Library of Congress along with all StoryCorps interviews.
Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Fur | Fredrik | Na Na Ni. | The Kora Records | 2008 | 00:28 |
Additional Credits
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
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