Purple Heart from named WWII KIA soldier

[NickCT]

Hey guys,
I just wanted to show you what I picked up yesterday morning. I was at a local flea market and found a box that was labeled 'Purple Heart'. I opened it and sure enough, the medal was right there. I noticed the back of it was engraved 'Oscar D. Ekberg MM1C USN', and I managed to pick it up for only $65. I think that is a pretty good price for this? I also bought a Navy service medal with the same name engraved on the back.

When I got home, I researched the name and it turns out this guy was stationed on the USS Houston, which fought in some big naval battles in WWII. On the night of February 28 1942, the Houston and an Australian warship, the Perth, ran into a Japanese fleet off the coast of Java, and a big surface naval battle ensued (I found multiple accounts saying it was the biggest surface naval battle since WWI). The Japanese sunk the Perth, and the Houston fought alone until shortly after midnight on March 1 1942, where it was torpedoed and sunk. The Japs lit it up with spotlights and machine gunned the decks as it was sinking.

I found crew records of Oscar Ekberg for the USS Houston, and it listed his date of death as March 1, 1942, which was the night the Houston was sunk. I attached a few photos of the Purple Heart, as well as the Navy service medal. I figured you guys would like it.

Information

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[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

http://recommendations.ebay.com/1935...d=170752190366

Is this the same fellow? If so flea market prices are a bit lower than e-bay.

[NickCT]

Hooked,
Yeah it is. I found that same link earlier this morning and was really happy to find a picture of him in his uniform. It looks like the Navy Good Conduct medal in the picture is dated 1935. The one I have is not dated, which I found out means it was given posthumously after his death, I guess it's known as a "KIA GC medal". Thanks a lot for the link

http://recommendations.ebay.com/1935...d=170752190366

Is this the same fellow? If so flea market prices are a bit lower than e-bay.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

I found on e-bay a letter post marked On the USS Kenton (ship on which my father served inWWII) the the sailor was a pharmasist mate third class (same rank as my father). I checked some photos of my dad and his shipmates. The fellows name was hand written by my dad next to him on the photo of all the pharmasist mates from the Kenton. Small world the internet has created.
Thank you for finding and preserving this mans legecy.

[NickCT]

Wow that's a great story! It's amazing when you are able to find things like that that fit together. Earlier I sent an email request to the Worcester MA library for an obituary of the sailor my purple heart was awarded to. I hope they can find something so I'll have a little more info on his life. I'll follow up if I hear anything!

[enfield303t]

Great find and hopefully you will treasure it more than the family of the deceased did. Always bothers me when no one in the family cares enough to keep medals.

This brave man made the ultimate sacrifice.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

Great find and hopefully you will treasure it more than the family of the deceased did. Always bothers me when no one in the family cares enough to keep medals.

This brave man made the ultimate sacrifice.

I try to imagine in an instance like this perhaps dying so young he has no family left as the thought of someone putting this on a table at a garage sale makes me sad. There are people out there who place no sentimental value on anything. Watch Pawnstars on the History channel and you will see what I mean. I was given a photo album that belonged to my grandfather from the Great War containing many photos of his time at Camp Pike in 1917 1918. Not a single photo has a caption, names lost forever. I would encourage everyone to label each item of family militaria to label it with as much information as you can gather. History lost can never be recaptured.

---------- Post added at 12:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:27 PM ----------

Wow that's a great story! It's amazing when you are able to find things like that that fit together. Earlier I sent an email request to the Worcester MA library for an obituary of the sailor my purple heart was awarded to. I hope they can find something so I'll have a little more info on his life. I'll follow up if I hear anything!

Please do and thank you again for your preservation and documentation of the item. It is nice to know there are others who share my passion for our history.

[John Sukey (Deceased)]

Thats one medal you wanted to AVOID getting
I assume you pinned the medal to the lid for the purpose of photographing it since it should be on the hook and the bar above it in that pocket.

[smle303br]

Good for you for saving this. Very interesting