Cape Coral man seeks help returning lost Purple Heart to its owner

CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK)—For more than four decades, a Purple Heart has been waiting to go home.

The medal hasn't been sitting in a museum or a collection. It's been passed around through one man's family, and now he's asking WINK News for help finding its rightful owner.

Joe Gugliuzza met WINK News anchor Corey Lazar at WINK Listens in Cape Coral to share his story. His mother-in-law worked at the Nautilus Inn and the Surfside restaurant in Cape Coral during the late 1970s and early 1980s, where she met Anthony W. Morris.

"He had some housing difficulty. He was between places, and he had this box of important things to him, and he asked her to hold on to him for safekeeping," Gugliuzza said.

Inside that box was a Purple Heart, one of the nation's oldest and most respected military decorations awarded to service members wounded or killed in combat. Gugliuzza believes Morris likely earned it during Vietnam.

"As a veteran, you know, wounded for you know the service of our country," Gugliuzza said. "You can't just discard it."

That's why he brought it to WINK Listens to get the word out. He's seen other stories where medals have been reunited with either the soldier or family members, and that's what he wants to do.

"If anybody knows Anthony W. Morris or or his family, if you're related to him or not, we have his his Purple Heart. I mean, this is his medal, and it belongs to him or to his family," Gugliuzza said.

Sometimes the most valuable thing we can return isn't just a medal—it's a piece of someone's history. If you have any information that could get this Purple Heart home, WINK News would like to hear from you at tips@winknews.com.

There is no national database of the names of those who received Purple Hearts, but there is a voluntary registry where a recipient or loved one can enter their information. Morris is not featured on it.