'A Gesture Of Kindness:' Oklahoma Man Reunited With Late Father's Military Medals

A man hasn’t seen his father’s military medals in four years, but, has them back Monday night thanks to a kindhearted woman.

Kyle Arrington lost his storage unit that had the medals inside. The woman who bought it found the medals and held on to them until she found Arrington.

Kyle says he’s grateful to have this important piece of his family history, back again.

Arrington says getting these medals back restores his faith in humanity because the woman could have just thrown them away.

He says when he lost his storage unit, he didn’t realize his father’s medals were inside it until he got an unexpected phone call.

“When it was explained to me what the mementos were I was absolutely floored because I thought I had the box accounted for and obviously I didn't, and it was nice of her to hold it for so long and then to finally track me down to give it back to me," Kyle said.

The woman who tracked down Arrington and returned the medals to him did not want to be identified. 

She told News On 6 that she knew this was something she had to do because she would want someone to do the same for her.

Kyle's father was Sergeant Vincent Arrington and he served for more than three decades as a civil engineer in the Oklahoma National Guard.

“My father was the type of person who was extremely loyal … If there was anything my father was good at, it was making worthwhile suggestions when it came to engineering,” Kyle said.

Sergeant Arrington earned a Berlin Airlift medal for dropping food to families in Berlin after the Soviet Union made a blockade to stop supplies. 

“Almost like a tear coming into my eyes to know that he was over there for two weeks away from his family and to help other people get fed,” Kyle said.

He said getting the medals back was amazing and that he knew it was not easy for the woman who bought the storage unit to find him.

“She found a piece of mail, found an address, tracked the address. Literally, I had probably five addresses since then so it took a lot of tracking," he said.

He says he will always be grateful to have them back because it’s nice to know people care. 

“It's a gesture of kindness, of respect for the military, of what some people have in respect for families of the military,” Kyle said.

Vincent Arrington passed away in 2002, and Kyle says now that he has the box, he'll never let it out of his sight again.