![thedailywhat:
Heartbreaking Human Interest Story: An unidentified serviceman from West Michigan, who was wounded in action while serving in Afghanistan, was forced to sell his Purple Heart to a pawn shop in order to make ends meet.
“He was falling on hard times,” said A-Z Outlet owner Bryan VandenBosch. “He said the same thing everybody else who comes in here says. He was short on funds.”
VandenBosch says the active-duty soldier, who was shot in Afghanistan last year, told him the Purple Heart was one of two he has earned so far.
The pawn shop owner told the Holland Sentinel that he has no plans to sell the medal to anyone, except its original owner — if he ever returns. “I won’t ever sell it,” he said. “If he ever decides he wants it, it will be here waiting for him.”
[tribune via military / sentinel / image: s&s.]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lwky4oVndy1qzpwi0o1_1280.jpg "thedailywhat:
Heartbreaking Human Interest Story: An unidentified serviceman from West Michigan, who was wounded in action while serving in Afghanistan, was forced to sell his Purple Heart to a pawn shop in order to make ends meet.
“He was falling on hard times,” said A-Z Outlet owner Bryan VandenBosch. “He said the same thing everybody else who comes in here says. He was short on funds.”
VandenBosch says the active-duty soldier, who was shot in Afghanistan last year, told him the Purple Heart was one of two he has earned so far.
The pawn shop owner told the Holland Sentinel that he has no plans to sell the medal to anyone, except its original owner — if he ever returns. “I won’t ever sell it,” he said. “If he ever decides he wants it, it will be here waiting for him.”
[tribune via military / sentinel / image: s&s.]")
Heartbreaking Human Interest Story: An unidentified serviceman from West Michigan, who was wounded in action while serving in Afghanistan, was forced to sell his Purple Heart to a pawn shop in order to make ends meet.
“He was falling on hard times,” said A-Z Outlet owner Bryan VandenBosch. “He said the same thing everybody else who comes in here says. He was short on funds.”
VandenBosch says the active-duty soldier, who was shot in Afghanistan last year, told him the Purple Heart was one of two he has earned so far.
The pawn shop owner told the Holland Sentinel that he has no plans to sell the medal to anyone, except its original owner — if he ever returns. “I won’t ever sell it,” he said. “If he ever decides he wants it, it will be here waiting for him.”
[tribune via military / sentinel / image: s&s.]
![thedailywhat:
This Thing Looks Like That Thing of the Day: Smoke helmets worn by German and French firefighters in the mid-1800s. Remind you of anyone? (Hint: Darth Vader and C-3PO.)
From Collectors Weekly:
The buzz among collectors is that George Lucas’s designers must have found inspiration in these smoke helmets and other like them. In fact, one well-known 19th-century manufacturer was named Vajen-Bader—you could easily get the name Vader from that.
[thanks ben!]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lddvisTmuX1qzpwi0o1_500.jpg "thedailywhat:
This Thing Looks Like That Thing of the Day: Smoke helmets worn by German and French firefighters in the mid-1800s. Remind you of anyone? (Hint: Darth Vader and C-3PO.)
From Collectors Weekly:
The buzz among collectors is that George Lucas’s designers must have found inspiration in these smoke helmets and other like them. In fact, one well-known 19th-century manufacturer was named Vajen-Bader—you could easily get the name Vader from that.
[thanks ben!]")
