NBC affiliate station WMGT reported that Gus Albritton, now living in Dublin, Georgia, was honored with three Purple Heart Medals throughout his military career. He told the outlet that after he returned from Vietnam to Fort Hood, Texas, an award ceremony was held for the veterans.

In 1983, his home was broken into and one of his medals was stolen.

“I was burglarized, and during the burglary, I had this large 5-gallon glass water bottle,” Albritton told WMGT. “I had change, money, jewelry, pocket knives, and I put my Purple Heart down in it too. During the burglary, I don’t know who it was, he must have been quite a man to pick that bottle of change up and everything, but it went missing.”

According to the Military Order of the Purple Heart, these awards are given to those who served in the United States armed forces who were injured or killed in combat. This medal, the organization noted, is specifically a combat decoration.

As time went on, Albritton believed the medal was gone forever until he heard from Jamie Bath, a Brooksville, Florida, resident.

While browsing through a yard sale, he came across the medal priced for $2. Originally born in South Africa, Bath told WMGT that he heard of the prestigious award and knew there were ways people can find the owners of them. Purple Hearts Reunited is one such nonprofit that returns missing Purple Hearts to veterans or a veteran’s family.

“This is the first one I’ve ever actually seen,” he said. “My wife and I like to do a lot of estate sales and yard sales on weekends and it just happened to be at someone’s yard sale.”

When Bath saw the medal, he said giving it back to the veteran who received it “was the right thing to do.”

Bath was able to get in contact with Albritton and the medal was returned to its owner decades later.

Newsweek reported in August that a Purple Heart was stolen and traded for a soda in North Carolina.

Erica Laws, the daughter of a two-tour soldier in the Vietnam War, said her family home was broken into and his Purple Heart medal and other military honors were missing. After reviewing security footage, investigators identified the alleged thief as Charles Carr.

Reports stated that the Purple Heart medal was returned to the family, but the other medals were still missing.

Newsweek reached out to Jamie Bath for further comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.