A Korean War Purple Heart To To August A. "Gus" Rothdeutsch, United States Army

Two-piece construction, bronze gilt with red, white, green and purple enamels, engraved "AUGUST A. ROTHDEUTSCH" on the reverse, 35.5 mm x 43 mm, original ribbon with brooch pinback, marked "LI-GI" on the pinback, intact enamels, near mint. Accompanied by two 10 mm x 36 mm Ribbon Bars, in its hardshelled case of issue, marked "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" on the lid, case also near mint.

Footnote: August A. "Gus" Rothdeutsch was born on February 2, 1927 in Stiles, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, one of four sons of Frank Rothdeutsch and Rose (Frisch) Rothdeutsch, the others being Frank (1915 - 2011), Joseph (1919 - 1958) and Alfred (1922 - 1997). August Rothdeutsch served with the United States Army in the rank of Sergeant during the Second World War and the Korean War, and it was for injuries sustained during the Korean War that he received his Purple Heart. After the Korean War, he married Joanne K. (Kennedy) Rothdeutsch (born May 1, 1933) in November 1956 and the couple were later to have three children, two sons: James and Thomas, and a daughter: Kathryn. He was self-employed as a masonry contractor in Whitehall for twenty years, followed by employment as an assembler for the former Exide Battery Company of Allentown for twenty years, before retiring in 1988, his Social Security number designated as 163-20-6404 (indicating Pennsylvania). He was a member of the St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Whitehall, and its Holy Name Society, was a life member of the West Coplay Maennerchor (German men's choir social club) and a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4714 in Northampton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. August A. "Gus" Rothdeutsch was resident of Whitehall Township when he died on March 11, 2000 at Lehigh Valley Hospital, in Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, at the age of 73. He was interred on March 15th in Saint John the Baptist Roman Catholic Cemetery, Coplay, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. His wife, Joanne, died on February 27, 2007, also at the age of 73 and was buried with him.