A 91-year-old World War II veteran was presented with medals, patches and ribbons replacing military decorations that were stolen from him earlier this year. U.S. Rep. Ron Barber yesterday presented the medals to Sheldon Coudray on Sunday.
KGUN (Channel 9) which first reported on the May theft. The station contacted Barber who said he would work to replace the items.
In late May, thieves broke into the Tucson home of Coudray, a decorated World War II veteran of the U.S. Army. They took a shadow box that hung on his wall and contained a substantial collections of medals, patches, ribbons and other military decorations that he had been awarded.
Members of Barber’s staff contacted the military’s National Personnel Records Center and were able to obtain replacements for some of the medals. But others were unavailable from the military.
Barber’s staff members then spent the following weeks and months searching for the remaining items and finding nearly every patch and medal, including one that Barber’s staff members found in Singapore and had sent to Tucson in time for yesterday’s ceremony.
That patch – for the 11th Bomb Group, approved for issuance on June 11, 1941 – was unavailable. Military collectors and experts had said the patch was extremely rare and would be unattainable.
Barber’s staff replicated Coudray’s shadow box from photos he had and the congressman presented it to him yesterday.
“I hope that you will accept these medals and other decorations as a symbol of our thanks to you as a member of the Greatest Generation serving our nation in World War II,” Barber said in presenting the shadow box to Coudray yesterday.
Barber represents more than 85,000 veterans in Southern Arizona and has been a strong and consistent supporter of veterans and veterans’ issues.