Treasurer Garrity, Senator Stefano Celebrate Veterans Day in Uniontown
Highlighting efforts to return unclaimed military decorations and memorabilia
Uniontown, PA - Treasurer Stacy Garrity joined Senator Pat Stefano at Storey Square in Uniontown today to recognize Veterans Day and highlight efforts to return the unclaimed military decorations and memorabilia housed in the Pennsylvania Treasury’s vault to their rightful owners. Treasurer Garrity and Senator Stefano also walked in the Veterans Day Parade.
“On this Veterans Day, I want every one of Pennsylvania’s nearly 800,000 veterans to know they are appreciated and respected for their selfless service to our country. As a veteran myself, I have seen first-hand the sacrifices made by our service members and their families to ensure the freedoms we all enjoy. To each one of them, I say thank you.”
Pennsylvania State Treasurer, Stacy Garrity
“Throughout our nation’s history, military service has been considered a great honor. As we observe Veterans Day, we should remember that this holiday is not about battles fought, planes downed or bombs dropped. It is about ordinary people doing extraordinary things and making extraordinary sacrifices. It’s about the incredible debt we owe them.”
Senator Pat Stefano
Treasurer Garrity and Sen. Stefano also encouraged Pennsylvanians to search Treasury’s database of unclaimed military decorations and memorabilia to help return priceless medals – including Purple Hearts and Bronze Stars – to the veterans who earned them.
Since taking office, Treasurer Garrity has returned more than 225 military decorations and memorabilia which were housed in Treasury’s vault as part of the state’s unclaimed property program. Another 500 are in the process of being returned.
“Returning military decorations and memorabilia is my favorite part of being Treasurer, and absolutely the most rewarding. Our first goal is to return the items to the veteran who earned them. If the veteran has passed, we return them to a family member. Sometimes it can take quite a bit of detective work to find the rightful owners. It’s one small way we can show our gratitude to these veterans and their families.”
Pennsylvania State Treasurer, Stacy Garrity
Military items most often come to Treasury as contents of abandoned or forgotten safe deposit boxes. Most tangible property is auctioned due to space restrictions after being held for three years, with the proceeds remaining to be claimed by a rightful owner any time. However, military decorations and memorabilia are held in perpetuity until Treasury can get them back to the veteran who earned them or their family.
Anyone can search Treasury’s military database at https://patreasury.gov/unclaimed-property/medals/.
NOTE TO MEDIA: Images of military decorations from Treasury’s vault are available upon request.
Media contacts:
Samantha Galvez, Press Secretary (Treasury), 717-418-0206 or sgalvez@patreasury.gov
Mark Fetzko, Chief of Staff (Sen. Stefano), mfetzko@pasen.gov
