Pittsfield VSO Looking to Reunite Purple Heart Award to Family
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Veterans Service Officer Mark Pompi is trying to reunite a World War II Purple Heart citation to the soldier's family.
Pompi recently started in his new role as the officer just a couple of months ago and when looking in his office closet, he found the citation belonging to Arthur Poulton.
"I really feel strongly that it should go back to the family if we can locate the family, and I have not been successful in doing that," he said.
Poulton was a 25-year-old resident of Pittsfield who was killed in action in France on Nov. 22, 1944. The citation notes he was awarded the medal for military merit and wounds received in action resulting in his death.
According to the Fields of Honor database Pfc. Arthur L. Poulton attended Pittsfield High School and was employed at the Wyandotte Mill before he enlisted in Springfield on March 17, 1941.
He also had a brother, Lionel, who was wounded in the same attack but survived. Poulton had married the former Pauline Fortin on Nov. 3, 1942; she died in 1993. He also left another brother, Robert.
"He was a young man drafted into the Army, and he served his country, and he went into battle in the European theater, and did his duty, and was killed in action in in enemy in combat with the Germans in France in 1944," Pompi said. "1944 was the deadliest year for the U.S. Army in Europe in history."
Mark has attempted to locate living relatives to return the heirloom but has had no luck. He conducted a search on Facebook and reached out to potential contacts without success.
He says this honor is very important and it should be honored and kept in the family to keep his legacy.
"It's a very personal thing, and usually these are like family heirlooms, heirlooms that they would keep forever and hand down generation to generation.”
Pompi said if he does not find someone he will proudly display it in his office until it is claimed.
I'm going to display it proudly in my office, and until such time that they want to until somebody reclaims it, it can't just be sitting on a shelf, and it can't be thrown in a landfill. It's too personal and too important of an award.
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