A 1930's-era medal from the Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak found in a World War II POW camp in Poland features the Sacred Heart of Jesus on one side (pictured here) and St. Therese of Lisieux on the other.Royal Oak — It’s a mystery 4,400 miles and 70 years in the making.
A 1930s-era medal from the Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak was discovered by an archeological team in Stalag Luft III, a German POW camp where shot-down Allied pilots and flyers were sent, located outside Sagan, in current-day Poland.
A team of archeologists investigating the former POW camp came across the medal, and Marilyn Walton, leader of the group, contacted Shrine historian Jack Hoolehan regarding the origins and possible owner of the medal.
“We received a call from Marilyn Walton, a historian from Ohio who was doing excavating work in Poland,” Hoolehan said. “She asked if we had any pilots from the Shrine who were shot down and sent to the camps. We wrote a short story in The Shrine Herald (the parish’s bulletin) and contacted the Royal Oak Historical Society about the medal.”
A 1930's-era medal from the Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak found in a World War II POW camp in Poland features the Sacred Heart of Jesus on one side and St. Therese of Lisieux on the other (pictured here).During World War II, Allied pilots who were shot down by the German Luftwaffe were taken to camps run by the German Air Force for the duration of the war.
It’s assumed an American pilot from the Royal Oak area, or one who visited the Shrine of the Little Flower, purchased the medal and was shot down and taken to Stalag III, where the medal was left in the earth for 70 years.
“Muriel Versagi, curator of the Royal Oak Historical Society Museum, came back with nothing,” Hoolehan said. “The local newspaper didn’t have any military names listed from 1942-45, and The Shrine Herald didn’t have any military personal listed, so we hit a dead end.”
Stalag Luft III was built by the German Luftwaffe originally for British pilots, but then took in American pilots in 1942 after the United States joined the war — many Americans flew with the British Royal Air Force before the U.S. entered the war, adding to the difficulty of who might have been the original owner.
“When pilots were shot down, they were usually stripped of their belongings,” Hoolehan said. “We were working on a lead where a parishioner knew someone who lived in the area and was shot down in WWII, but that person died 40 years ago.”
Hoolehan and Walton have been exchanging emails since the medal was first discovered, hoping to reunite the token with the downed pilot or his family.
The 1-inch silver medals depicting the Sacred Heart of Jesus on one side and St. Therese of Lisieux on the other were sold in the Shrine gift shot during the 1930s. The parish only has around 20 medals remaining.
The medal is still in Poland and will probably go the museum on the site of Stalag Luft III. Hoolehan asked Walton whether the medal could be brought back to Royal Oak after it is displayed in Poland to be displayed in the basilica’s Heritage Hall.
But for now, Hoolehan and the rest of the excavation team are waiting — hoping the story behind the once-lost medal will be revealed.
“The main reason we want to find the owner is so we can return the medal,” Hoolehan said. “Somewhere, there is a story behind this medal, and we want to find that person or his family. It’s a good mystery, that’s still going on, so we’re going to keep asking about it.”
Help solve it
If you know a U.S. pilot or airman who was a POW from WWII and interned in Stalag Luft III, contact Jack Hoolehan at (248) 541-4122 ext. 423.
