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Video by Spc. Eric Bandy

Mathis Purple Heart Reunification Tribute

Michigan National Guard

Nov. 21, 2016 | 4:12

More than 70 years later, Lt. Col. Matthew Yandura and Cadet Jay Choi, reunite the Purple Heart medal and certificate with the family of Tech. 5th Grade Robert Mathis, Nov. 13, 2016, at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Mich.
In 2013 Lt. Col. Matthew Yandura was stationed at the Jerusalem Consulate and discovered Robert Mathis’ Purple Heart certificate in a consignment shop. After years of research, Cadet Jay Choi, a senior in the Loyola Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program, was finally able to locate members of Robert’s family. In 1912, Reuven Matusevitch was born in Kaunas, Lithuania and after graduating college and completing his Lithuanian Army Service, he immigrated to the United States around 1939 and joined his siblings and family members there. He changed his name to Robert Mathis and enlisted into the Army’s 36th Combat Engineers where he was deployed to defend the beachfront of Anzio, Italy, perishing in action there. Robert's family perished during the Nazi invasion of Lithuania around 1941. (Michigan National Guard video by Spc. Eric Bandy/Released)