This heart found its way back home.
A New Jersey woman whose uncle bravely fought in World War II got her late relative’s long-lost Purple Heart back after the award was spotted at a Texas flea market earlier this summer.
Margarita Manhardt, 88, reunited with loved one George Arthur Cerrito’s military decoration that he earned in 1945 after he suffered a traumatic brain injury while fighting in Europe.
When the medal was lost track of in the early 2000s, the family thought they’d never see it again.
“This is amazing,” she told The Post on Wednesday night, a day after Zachariah Fike of the non-profit Purple Heart United came to her Edison Township home and returned the Purple Heart.
The Purple Heart was presented in a plaque along with a photo and other memorabilia, according to footage taken by CBS 2 NY.
Cerrito, who grew up in Hoboken, volunteered to join the US war effort, but while fighting in Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army in the Battle of Bostogne, his tank was hit, and a fellow soldier pulled him from the wreckage, she said.
The injury to the left side of his head was so severe that at first he couldn’t walk or talk and had to learn again.
The family rallied by side and would take turns making sure Uncle George was cared for throughout his life. Despite his challenges, he had an upbeat personality.
“He was a very jovial guy,” Manhardt recalled. “Very jovial, laughed a lot.”
Cerrito, who never married or had kids, died in 1993 at the age of 75. At the time, one of his sisters received all of his possessions that Manhardt calls “family treasures.”
When the sister died, the house she lived in with the heirlooms was transferred to another relative, who shared the home with his fiancée.
That relative died of cancer at 45 and from there, it became unclear what happened to the Purple Heart because the family didn’t have a good relationship with the fiancée, Manhardt said.
An Air Force veteran purchased the Purple Heart after she noticed it at the Texas flea market with the intent of shipping it to Purple Hearts Reunited, whose mission is to connect lost military medals with veterans and their families.
“I’m filled with joy at receiving this plaque and his medals and the memorabilia. I’m overwhelmed with joy,” Manhardt said.
“I find this whole situation very amazing and it just takes me back — I spent a lot of time with Uncle George … I spent lots and lots of time with him.”
Manhardt got choked up thinking about the sacrifices he made for his country. He was too old to be drafted but still wanted to fight.
“He enlisted in the Army to save America, that’s what he did,” she said. “His heroism comes back to me full force.”
