Vietnam Veteran's Lost Medals Found By Fellow Veteran

MORGAN HILL (KPIX 5) -- A Vietnam veteran was reunited with his prized war medals Wednesday after they were stumbled upon by a fellow Vienam vet.

Lenny Kurtz was out walking his dogs near his home in Morgan Hill yesterday, when he noticed a leather satchel with a box inside. It wasnt just any ordinary box.

It had seen better days, but the contents were unmistakable: a Purple Heart, and a Navy corpsman medal for service in Vietnam.

If anyone knew the value of those medals, it's Kurtz, - who has a few of his own, including the Army corpsman medal, also for service in Vietnam.

Kurtz turned the medals into Morgan Hill police, but when officers tried to contact the owner, they had no luck.

Investigators believed the satchel was left on the roof of a car that drove off and sent satchel went tumbling onto the sidewalk.

So Morgan Hill police turned to social media, posting a photo of the medals and the caption: "Someone is definitely missing these today, they just may not realize it yet."

That somebody turned out to be 75-year-old Jeffrey Simon, who finally got the voicemail message and came down to police headquarters Wednesday.

He had no idea the medals were even gone. "Being that were missing, I would've gone crazy looking for them because I asked the gal that packed them, I asked her today, 'Where'd you put those?' And she said, "I don't know, somebody grabbed it and put it in the truck,'" said Simon. "So I probably would've freaked out."

Simon even got to meet Kurtz, and share a few minutes with his fellow Vietnam vet. Kurtz said he would've completely missed the satchel were it not for his dogs. "Sometimes things happen that are just meant to be," said Kurtz.