Family Gets Congressional Recognition for Returning Vietnam Medals

by Sharon Aron Baron August 21, 2015

by Sharon Aron Baron August 21, 2015 27 views

By: Sharon Aron Baron

Congressman Ted Deutch honored several citizens at his Town Hall meeting, including those who found and returned a Vietnam Veteran’s medals to their rightful owner.

Congressional Recognition was given after we published our story about Meghan Burns and Jeremy Teitler. The couple found medals, photos, awards, and documents belonging to Private First Class Geoffrey Douglas Radcliffe Saunders in their attic while moving out of their home.

At first, he believed the items belonged to someone in Meghan’s family, but soon they discovered they were left by someone who lived there before them. They looked further and found a whole box of family photo albums belonging to Saunders’ mother. They took the items to their new home and started investigating.

Meghan Burns and Darlene Stosik with Congressman Ted Deutch on right.

Stosik’s husband, Victor, Jeremy Teitler, and son, Meghan Burns, Darlene Stosik, and Congressman Ted Deutch.

Private First Class Saunders was mortally wounded by fire from a North Vietnamese machine gun on April 26, 1968, at 19. Burns looked online and couldn’t find any information on the family, so she turned to Coral Springs Talk to get the story out to the community.

The article caught the eye of Congressman Ted Deutch, who got involved and tried to find the family through the National Personnel Records.

Fortunately, Saunders’ second cousin Bernadette Flanagan was working on their family tree when her cousin Kathleen Stock saw our stories from Maryland and contacted Saunders’ sister. “I had met Geoffrey, but not his sister, so my cousin found her and contacted her regarding the items,” said Flanagan.

We got them in touch with one another, and a meeting was set up where Burns and Teitler were able to give Stosik back her brother’s items and many family photo albums.

“It’s amazing they discovered them, and they deserve great credit for realizing how important they were and for making sure they went to the family they belonged to, ” said the congressman on Wednesday night.

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Sharon Aron Baron

Editor of Talk Media and writer for Coral Springs Talk. CST was created in 2012 to provide News, Views, and Entertainment for the residents of Coral Springs and the rest of South Florida.