- Joined
- May 18, 2009
- Location
- st augustine,florida
do you believe this guy?
Not since his days as a Marine in combat in Iraq has Matthew Winters Jr. felt a call of duty like the one he embarked on Tuesday, trying to recover the identification tags, medals and folded burial flag of his younger sister, who was the first U.S. servicewoman killed in the Afghanistan campaign.
The personal effects of Sgt. Jeannette Lee Winters, a Gary native, are being held by a northwest Indiana businessman who found himself at the center of a public firestorm when he told the Winters family that if they wanted the mementos back, they'd have to pay for them.
But late Tuesday, Mark Perko said he had a change of heart and agreed to hand over the items without payment.
"I'm just going to cut my losses on this stuff," said Perko, a used furniture salesman who purchased the contents of the Winters' family storage locker four years ago. "They can have it back if they want it."
Perko said he was unable to connect with the Winters family on Tuesday, but could make arrangements to release the items as early as today. This morning, he told WGN-720 AM radio host Greg Jarrett that he had "about $1,500 into this," but felt "good about giving it back." His abrupt decision Tuesday night ended a whirlwind day for Perko, who was lambasted on Facebook and public comment boards at various media outlets, and even temporarily closed his small used furniture store in Lake Station, Ind., amid the criticism.
"This is my little sister, you know, and losing these items is like losing a small piece of her," Winters Jr. said earlier Tuesday while visiting his sister's grave at Calumet Park Cemetery in Merrillville. "I'm just hoping he does the right thing."
Winters, 25, was among seven Marines killed Jan. 9, 2002, when the KC-130 refueling plane they were aboard crashed into a mountainside near the Afghanistan border with Pakistan.
Her death, coming in the initial stages of the U.S. military campaign after 9/11, stunned and saddened the blue-collar community where she had grown up, starred on the Calumet High School track team and earned a scholarship to attend Indiana University.
Many of Winters' personal items, including military records and medals, ID tags, photographs, a letter from then-President George W. Bush and even the flag service members draped over her coffin on its return from Afghanistan, were kept in a storage locker the family had rented after Winters' death. When the family patriarch, Matthew Winters Sr., suffered a stroke about five years ago, payments for the locker lagged, and the storage company, as is typical, put the contents up for bid.
Perko, a Hobart resident, makes his living buying and selling items at estate sales, garage sales and storage locker liquidations. After buying the items around 2006, Perko was unsuccessful in reaching the Winters family, he said. So he stashed them in the back of his furniture store until last week, when a nonprofit organization announced a new homeless center for female veterans in Gary would bear Winters' name.
Robert Farmer, executive director of Webb House Inc., which secured the rights to the homeless center, said Perko contacted the organization and made it clear he wasn't simply giving away Winters' items. Farmer offered him $1,000 and four Bears tickets to each of the team's two remaining home games this season. Perko turned him down but declined to name his price, either to Farmer or the Winters family.
"We're not going to get into a position where we're chasing after this," Farmer said. "This is a matter now for the family to try to resolve.
Not since his days as a Marine in combat in Iraq has Matthew Winters Jr. felt a call of duty like the one he embarked on Tuesday, trying to recover the identification tags, medals and folded burial flag of his younger sister, who was the first U.S. servicewoman killed in the Afghanistan campaign.
The personal effects of Sgt. Jeannette Lee Winters, a Gary native, are being held by a northwest Indiana businessman who found himself at the center of a public firestorm when he told the Winters family that if they wanted the mementos back, they'd have to pay for them.
But late Tuesday, Mark Perko said he had a change of heart and agreed to hand over the items without payment.
"I'm just going to cut my losses on this stuff," said Perko, a used furniture salesman who purchased the contents of the Winters' family storage locker four years ago. "They can have it back if they want it."
Perko said he was unable to connect with the Winters family on Tuesday, but could make arrangements to release the items as early as today. This morning, he told WGN-720 AM radio host Greg Jarrett that he had "about $1,500 into this," but felt "good about giving it back." His abrupt decision Tuesday night ended a whirlwind day for Perko, who was lambasted on Facebook and public comment boards at various media outlets, and even temporarily closed his small used furniture store in Lake Station, Ind., amid the criticism.
"This is my little sister, you know, and losing these items is like losing a small piece of her," Winters Jr. said earlier Tuesday while visiting his sister's grave at Calumet Park Cemetery in Merrillville. "I'm just hoping he does the right thing."
Winters, 25, was among seven Marines killed Jan. 9, 2002, when the KC-130 refueling plane they were aboard crashed into a mountainside near the Afghanistan border with Pakistan.
Her death, coming in the initial stages of the U.S. military campaign after 9/11, stunned and saddened the blue-collar community where she had grown up, starred on the Calumet High School track team and earned a scholarship to attend Indiana University.
Many of Winters' personal items, including military records and medals, ID tags, photographs, a letter from then-President George W. Bush and even the flag service members draped over her coffin on its return from Afghanistan, were kept in a storage locker the family had rented after Winters' death. When the family patriarch, Matthew Winters Sr., suffered a stroke about five years ago, payments for the locker lagged, and the storage company, as is typical, put the contents up for bid.
Perko, a Hobart resident, makes his living buying and selling items at estate sales, garage sales and storage locker liquidations. After buying the items around 2006, Perko was unsuccessful in reaching the Winters family, he said. So he stashed them in the back of his furniture store until last week, when a nonprofit organization announced a new homeless center for female veterans in Gary would bear Winters' name.
Robert Farmer, executive director of Webb House Inc., which secured the rights to the homeless center, said Perko contacted the organization and made it clear he wasn't simply giving away Winters' items. Farmer offered him $1,000 and four Bears tickets to each of the team's two remaining home games this season. Perko turned him down but declined to name his price, either to Farmer or the Winters family.
"We're not going to get into a position where we're chasing after this," Farmer said. "This is a matter now for the family to try to resolve.