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Veterans organization reunites family with Gastonia soldier's Purple Heart

Gaston Gazette - 8/21/2019

James Willard Arrowood refused to be held captive by Nazis, even for just one night.

Captured by German forces during World War II, the Army paratrooper, who built a life in Gastonia after the war, quickly devised a way to freedom.

"He got caught," his daughter, Nancy Arrowood said. "They took him into a house. There were about 40 other people there. He and a Frenchman that night escaped. Dad said, 'I'm not staying there, because I will not come back.'"

The two men crawled on their stomachs for "miles and miles and miles," Arrowood said, until they reached the safety of American forces. Arrowood lost four toes off his right foot due to freezing temperatures, but escaped with his life.

A Forest City native, Arrowood moved to Gastonia after returning home. He worked for years as a supervisor at Smyre Manufacturing and had four children.

He died of natural causes in 2015 at 90 years old and was buried at Hollywood Cemetery in Gastonia.

And until three weeks ago, his family believed they had all the military medals he had accumulated in his years of service.

Then, a surprise phone call.

"I was shocked," said another daughter, Linda Kirby.

Little did his family know the Purple Heart in their possession was a replacement. His original medal had been found by an Indiana man who had spotted it inside a Nebraska pawn shop.

Aside from a brief time rehabbing his injury in Colorado, his family couldn't recall him ever going to the Midwest.

The phone call, made by Purple Hearts Reunited Operations Director Jess Jaggars, was hard to believe.

Jaggars wanted to set up a time to meet the family and present them with James' Purple Heart, but first she had to convince them this was real.

"I thought it was a scam at first, because you just don't know," said Patty Butler, another daughter.

The meeting finally happened Tuesday night at the Italian Garden Pizzeria in Kings Mountain.

The daughters gathered at a table in a conference room. Arrowood's son, Rick Arrowood, lives in Virginia and was unable to attend.

Jaggars presented the children with the medal, framed to hang on a wall.

What was expected to be a quick ceremony turned into a lengthy dinner, with Arrowood's daughters sharing stories their father had told them.

"He wanted to join up at 17, but his dad wouldn't let him," Nancy Arrowood said. "So he signed up on his 18th birthday."

During the war, Arrowood functioned as a "runner," a soldier responsible for carrying messages from camp to camp.

He proudly served his country, though his daughters said he was hesitant to talk about his experience overseas.

"I'm a history buff," Nancy said. "I love history. He would not discuss it. Then in my late 40s I started discussing it. I said, 'We need to know about this, Daddy. We need to know about what you did.' Then he opened up about everything, about being captured and everything. I think it was too traumatic for him what he went through."

Jaggars said the path the medal took from Arrowood's possession to the pawn shop in Nebraska may never be known.

But his family is thankful that someone stepped up and did the right thing.

"That's an angel, that man," Butler said. "He's going to be rewarded in heaven, I'll tell you that. He found it, he bought it, and he made sure it got in the right hands."

Butler said the family would likely share the original and replacement medals temporarily, but that two nephews in the family will inherit them.

Jaggars plans to present another Purple Heart to the family of another Gastonia soldier, Cpl. William Julian Barnes, on Thursday in Charlotte.

Barnes served with the Marines during World War II and died in Gastonia in 2006. His medal was sent to Purple Hearts Reunited anonymously.

You can reach Adam Lawson at 704-869-1842 or on Twitter @GazetteLawson.

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(c)2019 Gaston Gazette, Gastonia, N.C.

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