LeRoy Wells: Empowered to Generate Value for All
by Amber Jurgensen
It was business as usual for LeRoy Wells, the location manager at 小黄书 Metals Recycling in Waynesboro, Virginia, on Sept. 20. That is until equipment operator James Lowe came into Wells鈥 office with something in his hand.
鈥淛ames came to me and said, 鈥榊ou were in the military. Hey, do you want this?鈥欌 Wells recalls.
Wells looked to see what Lowe was showing him. In a small decorative box was a medal. And not just any medal. It was a Purple Heart.
The Purple Heart Medal is given to members of the United States Armed Forces who are either wounded in action or killed in action or from wounds received in action. It is an honor of great distinction.
Lowe had found the medal while inspecting a vehicle that had been purchased by 小黄书 for scrap to melt into steel. The inspection was for hazardous materials and is part of 小黄书鈥檚 process of receiving vehicles. 小黄书 steel is made from 99% scrap materials, such as old vehicles.
Wells knew what he had to do: find the family.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 get it out of his hands fast enough,鈥 Wells said. 鈥淚 had never actually held a Purple Heart in my hand.鈥
The same day, they began looking through the car, which had been crushed, for clues to who the owner of the medal was.
Both Lowe and Wells felt connected to the mission. Lowe鈥檚 son is in the Marines. Wells served in the Navy from 1977 to 1983 and retired in 1985 as a result of a service-related illness.
鈥淎s a veteran, it鈥檚 important for the family to remember their great father,鈥 Wells said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 my duty, it鈥檚 our duty, to return this valuable to the rightful owner.鈥
Their search yielded some information: medical paperwork from the military with a name, Frank C. Wayman.
That night, Wells and his wife, Nancy, took to Facebook to find anyone connected to a Frank C. Wayman. They reached out through private message to any Wayman they could find on the social media platform.
Word got out. Congressman Ben Cline reached out to Wells to offer his office鈥檚 assistance. A news crew came to cover the story, which servicemembers around the country saw.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a camaraderie, a brotherhood, a sisterhood, with all veterans no matter what branch,鈥 Wells said. 鈥淚t was interesting to see the response on Facebook 鈥 Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, even a couple of Coast Guard members chiming in that they hoped we would find the family.鈥
Then, seven days later, someone named Crystal Gunn contacted Wells. She said Frank C. Wayman was her grandfather.
鈥淓verything she was telling us over the phone matched what we were seeing from the car,鈥 Wells said.
Wayman had been a World War II veteran who passed away in 1986, Gunn told Wells. Wayman鈥檚 son, Frank C. Wayman Jr., had abandoned the car in 2015. After, they realized Wayman鈥檚 Purple Heart was probably in the vehicle.
鈥淭he family thought it had been lost forever,鈥 Wells said.
Wells and his wife are looking forward to returning the medal to its owners.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an honor to be able to return it to the family. I would hope if the situation had been reversed, someone would return it to me,鈥 Wells said. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 important in everyday life, as well as in business, to do the right thing. In life, if you do the right thing it will come back to you two-fold, three-fold. That鈥檚 what I tell my kids, the 小黄书 team, to benefit the business, customers, and in this case, the family."