BROWNSTOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — Some World War II medals are now in the hands of the rightful family, thanks to the power of social media and the tight-knit community Downriver.
Anthony M. Schuster was a WWII veteran from Wyandotte and he was decorated with nearly a dozen medals, including two Purple Hearts, four major campaigns and a Europe campaign ribbon.
All of it was sent from another veteran in Florida to Sandy Johnson in Romulus.
"These medals were just like, what an incredible soldier," Johnson said. "When I got this call, it seemed to me like it lined up. Both Anthonys' being married to a Mary, both of them living in Wyandotte, same ages, same time frame."
When Johnson started digging deeper, though, she realized the medals belonged to a different Anthony Schuster.
"It just didn't line up because my grandfather I think died in 1946. This man was in D-Day and he was 39 when he died. So, I immediately knew well, I have to find the right family," Johnson said.
That's exactly what she did, with the help of social media.
"Actually, it was kind of strange," Heaven Schuster said. "We're both part of a Facebook group called Downriver and Friends, who one of my three daughters who's also a part of, and we had people just reaching out and tagging us multiple, multiple times that this stranger was looking for a Schuster family — could it be our family?"
Heaven said Anthony M. Schuster was her husband's great uncle.
"My husband is a Ron Schuster, his father is a Ron Schuster, Ron Schuster's cousin was Mike Schuster, whose father was Anthony Schuster," Heaven Schuster said.
She said they are some of the only remaining family members of Anthony Schuster and they had no idea this memorabilia existed.
"I am amazed — at a place where we are right now in this world that there is still somebody willing to go the extra mile for somebody else," Schuster said.
7 News Detroit reporter Carli Petrus asked Johnson why she decided to go through all this effort to find the family the medals belonged to.
"Because I felt like this was meaningful. It was a sacrifice. So many of our service men and women sacrifice daily and they give up so much and this man had sacrificed so much for his country, he had one son and I felt like these things were precious, and I would want them," Johnson said.
