LAWTON, Okla. (AP) - Monday, April 24, was a good day.
Not only did the Friends of the Lawton Public Library get to celebrate another successful fundraiser, courtesy of its annual spring book sale, but the quarterly meeting also yielded a box full of medals that belong to the Gildart family.
“Holy Crow. Praise God,” Charles R. Gildart III typed when he responded to an email sent by an excited Patty Neuwirth at the conclusion of a meeting.
Neuwirth, whose determined search yielded the owner of those medals, said she was beyond thrilled when a library patron (who prefers to remain anonymous) came up to her after the meeting and showed her a box of medals, 25 in all, that she purchased for $1 each at a garage sale years ago.
That person had tucked the medals and their box away, until reading The Sunday Constitution story about a medal that had been found during the Friends’ book sale and Neuwirth’s determination to return it to its owner.
Neuwirth told The Lawton Constitution (https://bit.ly/2q8OqYA ) that the first medal turned up in a box of books as volunteer sorters Sally Cote and Barbara Griffin were going through donations for this year’s book sale. The American Defense Service Medal was one of at least 20 medals that Charles R. Gildart III remembers in the two shadow boxes that his military father displayed in the den or office of every house the family lived in as they transferred from post to post. Charles R. Gildart Sr. and Charles R. Gildart Jr. were graduates of West Point (33 years apart) and both had distinguished military careers with numerous points of service.
Gildart III said he had made his mind up years ago that the medals were gone for good, lost during a series of moves that his mother Blanche Billingslea Gildart made after her late husband entered the Lawton-Fort Sill Veterans Center for the last three years of his life, then afterward as she adjusted to life as a widow. He said it was during his mother’s most recent return to Lawton (he was helping her sort through boxes) that he realized he hadn’t seen the shadow boxes and he was resigned to the fact they were long gone.
Then, Neuwirth called with the news about the American Defense Service Medal. Neuwirth said she was still making arrangements for shipment of that medal to Gildart when the Friends meeting turned up a lot more medals.
The medals reveal the breadth of Gildart Senior’s military service, including a Mexican Border Service Medal, World War I Victory medal, Occupation of Germany medals from 1919 and 1945, a World War II medal with three battle stars (for the European, African and Middle East theater) and a medal from the Korean War. It also includes two Bronze Stars, one with “V’’ device, for valor with palm.
Neuwirth also scored a second victory at the Friends meeting.
Warren Paxton, a book sale volunteer, said the Candor Class of 1956 ring found by volunteers at last year’s book sale belongs to his wife, meaning that ring also has returned to its home.
The tiny ring with its blue and white stone was found in books that were for sale at the 2016 event. Neuwirth said she thinks the ring slipped off someone’s finger as they were going through the books. Her internet search turned up a Candor High School in New York State, but initials in the ring didn’t match anyone in the class, unsurprising, she said, because she believed the ring belonged to a woman whose last name would have changed when she married.
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Information from: The Lawton Constitution, https://www.swoknews.com
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