Released 01/22/2016 at 3:27 PM by PIO Joel Despain

Turns out, it was earned in Viet Nam: 12 November 1966. How it made its way to Madison nearly 50 years later remains a mystery, but we now know its odyssey to Wisconsin began not so long ago in California.The journey of a Purple Heart would likely still be stuck in MPD property room limbo if not for the dogged determination of a police officer - a veteran and a Gold Star Father - who knows well the meaning of sacrifice and service to country.How Officer Mike Brennan became a war medal sleuth began with an abandoned backpack.It was found outside Madison's City Hall on the ninth of December, just last month.Inside the MPD's property room clerk Shelby Patterson determined it contained some clothes and other personal items. A pretty routine find, if not for what she discovered upon closer inspection. Pinned inside of the pack was a heart-shaped object affixed to a faded piece of fabric.On its back was a name: a clue.A detective - who happened to be near - decided it prudent to mass email MPD employees to see if anyone might have connections that might help determine whose medal had been found.Officer Brennan has connections, and one led him to a Vermont veteran who has made it his calling to do everything humanly possible with just such a case.Captain Zachariah Fike is active duty Army National Guard who – in his free time - spearheads a nonprofit called Purple Hearts Reunited Captain Fike, in an email to Officer Brennan, was not optimistic: "This is going to be a tough case ... based on the age of the medal, it could have belonged to a WWII, Korea, or even a Vietnam Veteran." The name on the back seemed fairly common.Fike sent information and photos to the National Public Records Center, and lo and behold there was only one person to have ever earned a Purple Heart with the name and middle initial that had been etched on the back of the one now being safeguarded inside the MPD property room.Records indicated the veteran was now living in a small enclave in Southern California.Fike emailed Brennan again: "I called the local sheriff and they agreed to go out to his house and deliver a message to call me. Not sure if they will follow through or if he (the veteran) will respond. Fingers crossed."It all worked. The extended law enforcement family in California got Fike's phone number to the veteran, and Fike got the veteran's number to Brennan, who made the call to put to rest at least part of the mystery.The 69-year-old man told the Madison officer he had lived in a boarding house several months ago, and believes that is where his Purple Heart went missing.He has never been to Wisconsin, has no family here, and has no idea how his Purple Heart ended up pinned inside an abandoned backpack.Fink and Brennan are now collaborating on an appropriate reunion ceremony: a First Cavalry Division soldier with his Purple Heart.Its journey began in Viet Nam. The mission to return it home again is now rooted in Vermont and Wisconsin, thanks to two caring veterans - men who have never met - but share the bond of the Purple Heart.