I am hoping somebody can answer this for me or at least point me in the right direction. My father-in-law was in the Army in W.W.II, he made the D-Day landing on Utah beach. He really did not talk about his service in the war with his kids because they would not understand and they were not at all interested in hearing it. All my wife knew was, he was in W.W.II and he recieved a Purple Heart for wounds, she had seen the medal and certificate on the wall in his office. He has told me more about his service and what he did in the war, than he has told his wife and kids. I guess I could relate to what he went through. He got a divorce in 1989, and his ex-wife burned everything that was his, including one of his DD-214's his medals,certificates and war souvenirs, even their wedding pictures. He had two certified copies and an original DD-214 from W.W.II and when he was brought back to duty for Korea,that did not get burned, neither of them list a Purple Heart. The reason this is an issue, he applied for V.A. Medical treatment and the perscription drug program and he was turned down because they said he did not have a Combat Decoration. When he asked what decoration they were referring to they told him a Purple Heart or personal decoration.
With the information he had given me, I sent in the request for a re-issue of his medals, two years ago. I finally recieved a letter from the Army last week. It lists all of his medals,they should arrive in a month, but no Purple Heart. My question is, what is the possibility of the Purple Heart being awarded to him in a combat zone and it never being entered into his service record? He remembers being in formation, and recieving the medal. Would it have been entered into the unit diary?, if the Army has such a thing for their units. If so, how do I get the information for the time frame he was in the unit? If anyone needs more information I would be glad to provide it.Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Garfield411
CH-53D and UH-1N
Crew Chief