Purple Heart, “George D. Cates”

Purple Heart, slot brooch, machine-engraved “George D./Cates”

George Dempsey Cates enlisted at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, on 18 February 1943. He was from St. Clair, Missouri. In Italy, in November 1943, Cates was hospitalized with a wound to his leg. In May, 1944, he was again hospitalized with a bullet wound to his hand (lost his thumb). In October 1944, he was treated with penicillin for a personal malady. An obituary notes that he received two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart. He returned to Union, Missouri, after the war, working for the International Shoe Company and Union Pacific Railroad, and died there in March 2003.