HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania Treasury Department has been able to return 732 military decorations to veterans and their families, and more unclaimed decorations are now available on MissingMoney.com, a national database where individuals can easily search for unclaimed property in almost every state.
Commonwealth Treasurer Stacy Garrity said the department is working to return an additional 450 decorations which are currently in the state vault. Garrity noted MissingMoney.com is maintained by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators.
“Returning military decorations is a personal mission for me,” said Garrity, a 30-year veteran who retired as a colonel from the U.S. Army Reserves. “And I’m blessed to have staff who make it their personal mission as well. Everyone at Treasury wants to honor the veterans who made sacrifices on behalf of all Americans, and my team consistently goes above and beyond.
‘They’re detectives, like the hard-nosed gumshoes from old noir movies who just won’t quit,” Garrity continued. “Their hearts overflow with compassion for the veterans who earned these medals and their families, and I’m tremendously proud of their hard work. It’s gratifying to have that work recognized on MissingMoney.com.”
Since 2018, Treasury has offered a dedicated search tool for unclaimed military decorations found at patreasury.gov/unclaimed-property/Medals. Here anyone can see the current list of military decorations waiting to be reunited with the rightful owners.
“I want to thank former state Treasurer Joe Torsella for starting this initiative,” Treasurer Garrity said. “It immediately became one of my favorite parts of the job. All of us are forever indebted to these brave heroes who put on the uniform understanding the possible dangers they would face, and to their families who also made big sacrifices.”
Most often, military decorations come to Treasury from abandoned safe deposit boxes. State law requires businesses to report unclaimed property to Treasury after three years of dormancy.
Unclaimed property can also include dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, insurance policies, and more. Most tangible unclaimed property comes from abandoned safety deposit boxes, police evidence rooms, colleges, nursing homes and can include things like jewelry, baseball cards and other collectibles.
Garrity is working to return more than $4.5 billion worth of unclaimed property in Treasury’s care. More than one in 10 Pennsylvanians has unclaimed property, and the average value of a claim is $1,600.
Individuals can keep property from ending up at Treasury by:
- Keeping banks informed of any address changes;
- Communicating with banks at least once every three years;
- Keeping up-to-date records of bank accounts, stocks, life insurance policies and safe deposit boxes;
- Letting a family member or trusted adviser know where financial records are kept; and
- Depositing or cashing all checks as they are received.
Pennsylvanians can visit patreasury.gov/unclaimed-property to search for unclaimed property. Those who have lived outside of Pennsylvania can easily search other states’ unclaimed property databases by visiting MissingMoney.com.
