Jim Even thought his family had all of its belongings and memorabilia after his father died in 2014. His father was organized: A master sergeant and accountant in the U.S. Army Air Corps, he had his affairs in order before his death at age 92.

But unbeknownst to his family, Jerome Even had placed his Purple Heart medal – a heart-shaped medal awarded to members of the U.S. armed forces wounded or killed in combat – in a safe deposit box. The medal eventually found its way to the Illinois State Department of Revenue. In May, the Treasury revealed a website with a list of Purple Heart medals that they would like to give back to the award winners and their families. The website lists the names of Purple Heart recipients whose medals are held by the Treasury.

Shortly thereafter, Jim Even received at least a dozen calls from people telling him that his father's Purple Heart medal was in the Treasury.

“Ten years (after his death), I got a call from someone who said, 'Hey, are you related to Jerome Even?'” Even said. “And I thought, 'Who is that? Is this a sales pitch?'”

Jim Even's siblings received similar calls, all from people who recognized their father's name on the Treasury website. The family contacted the Treasury's Unclaimed Property team to try to get their father's medal back.

On July 1, Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs officially returned the Purple Heart Medal to Jim Even during a ceremony at the Treasurer's Office in the West Loop. The Even family is a success story in the Treasurer's mission to return Purple Heart medals to veterans and their families.

But 12 of the medals have not yet been collected and are in the possession of the treasurer until the recipients or their families come forward. Frerichs said that with Independence Day approaching, Operation Purple Heart is an important initiative to help veterans after their service ends.

“As we head into the Fourth of July holiday, there will be fireworks, there will be picnics, there will be fun with family and friends,” Frerichs said at a news conference on Monday. “But you have to realize that all of this came at a cost: people who fought for our independence, people who fought to keep our independence, and people who are still out there today who may be coming back and need a little help.”

And the return process is still ongoing, Frerichs clarified.

“Just because some of our wars are over doesn't mean we abandon our commitment to helping our veterans,” Frerichs said. “We still have to … return Purple Hearts, and from time to time we bring in new ones.” He urged the public to look at the Treasury's list of unclaimed Purple Hearts and contact the treasury with any relevant information.

The treasurer receives the medals if she are left in banks or safe deposit boxes and remain unclaimed for several years. The agency is legally obliged to endeavour to return this property. This is where Operation Purple Heart was born.

The initiative, started by Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs in November 2021 to find the rightful owners of the Purple Hearts in the Treasury's possession. With the return of Jerome Even's medal, 11 Purple Hearts have been returned to their rightful owners. The launch of the Illinois Purple Hearts Return website in May 2024 was a renewed effort to return these medals, this time asking for the public's help. Anyone can access the list of unclaimed Purple Hearts online and try to find the rightful owners of these medals.

Jim Even said the news of the Purple Heart return was an opportunity for him to bring the family together and share stories from his father's life and legacy.

“It just brought all those memories back together and kind of brought the whole family back together,” Even said. “That one act got everyone talking about it, honoring the people who served and just bringing back memories, and it was wonderful. And it continues because we still meet with people.”

The Purple Heart medal is the oldest military award in the country and dates back to the Revolutionary War, according to the Department of Defense. It is estimated that more than 1.8 million Purple Hearts were awarded since 1932.

According to his son, Jerome Even was born in the Edgewater neighborhood and joined the armed forces in 1940 and served in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He eventually became a master sergeant as a navigator and gunner at Pearl Harbor. He was wounded in the 1941 attack but served for five more years, receiving a Purple Heart medal on February 3, 1942.

He later attended DePaul University in Chicago, became an accountant and raised five children in the Uptown and Park Ridge neighborhoods. He died in April 2014 at age 92, Jim Even said. Thanks to his father's dedication and love for DePaul University, Jim Even now works as a Learning Specialist at DePaul University's Center for Students with Disabilities, where he works with the university's Office of Veteran Affairs to support veteran students in their transition to college life.

“I never had the privilege of serving like my father did,” Even said. “But I honor his sacrifice by supporting veterans in a smaller but different way. Life comes full circle, doesn't it?”

The Treasury invited Brandon Carroll, a DePaul student and veterans' representative for DePaul's Veterans Office, to speak at the ceremony. He shared how, after serving in the Marine Corps and deployment to Syria, he struggled to find a community when he enrolled at DePaul University until he found the Veterans Office.

“Veterans’ mental health is very, very important these days,” Carroll said, describing how difficult – and lonely – the transition from military service to attending college at DePaul during the COVID-19 pandemic was for him. “I’m just glad that more is being said about it.”

Jim Even hopes other families will experience what his family did when they learned they would receive their father's Purple Heart.

“You want to be sure that someone remembers you,” said Even. “My father would be thrilled.”