NORTH FORK, NY — After an emotional journey that spanned years and miles, a woman was presented Sunday with her father's Purple Heart medal — one she'd never known existed, and that was found by pure chance at a North Fork yard sale.

The seemingly impossible task of uniting Lynn Hollaman Bryson, who lives in Seattle, with her father R.S. Hollaman's Purple Heart all started with a yard sale.

When Lisa A. Dabrowski was out, like so many others on the North Fork, heading from yard sale to yard sale back in April, she saw something that would ultimately end up changing lives: A Purple Heart Medal.

"I knew, right away, what it was, what it meant, and I knew what it took to be awarded one," she said.

Dabrowski has spent years dedicated to shining a light on veterans and their rich stories: She's a public information officer for Mattituck American Legion Post 861, and a member of the American Legion Auxiliary, Unit Number 1, New York.

On Sunday, Bryson was presented with the rediscovered Purple Heart at a ceremony that took place at the Riverhead Polish Hall, located at 214 Marcy Avenue in Riverhead.

"This was such a beautiful way to honor my dad," Bryson said.

Speakers at the event included Dabrowski, Mattituck American Legion Post 861 Commander Robert Devito, Kristen Asher-O'Rourke, instrumental in finding Bryson, Mike Osip, ride captain of Patriot Guard Riders New York, who presented Bryson with flags, and Donald M. Bayles, who was sent off to war on the same day, their registration numbers just four digits apart.

Once she found the Purple Heart, Dabrowski knew it was a treasure that needed to be protected. And so began a journey of the heart that forever touched all involved.

Bryson brought a blue notebook with all the articles and clippings collected about her father Robert Stuart Hollaman, born in Toronto, Canada on St. Patrick's Day in 1923. When she saw the Purple Heart Sunday for the first time, Bryson gasped audibly. Her face wreathed in joyful smiles and voice filled with tears, she addressed those gathered to celebrate the momentous day.

"I want to thank all the folks involved as this magical story unfolded," she said. "Dad was a kind, loving, gentle, happy man, always smiling. He was a free spirit."

When he was 4, her father's family emigrated to Patchogue; he enlisted in the United States Army at 19 in 1943 and was severely injured by shrapnel in the Philippines. "I was told my grandmother received reports every 12 hours, that he was still alive," Bryson said.

The injuries were so severe that he had three hip replacements over the course of his lifetime.

When he returned back to the United States in 1945, it's believed he gave the Purple Heart to his mother, who lived in Patchogue at the time; she later moved to Orient and it's believed the medal was lost in the shuffle of months and years.

Her father, Bryson said, met her mother Eileen in Mastic Beach at the bowling alley, where she waited on him and his buddies. "Before the night was over, he leaned over and said, 'I'm going to marry that girl,'" Bryson said.

Her father was an electrical linesman and earned his journeyman's license before there were cherry pickers, climbing telephone poles with spikes in his boots, she said. Her family lived in Mastic Beach, where she was born. In 1958, when she was in fourth grade, they moved to Florida, eventually settling in Miami where her father became an avid freshwater fisherman, Bryson said.

"Every weekend we traveled to Lake Okeechobee, where we would camp and fish from sunup to sundown," she said. Her father, she said, loved traveling and the mountains; her parents visited San Diego and loved it so much they stayed for many years, she said.

Eventually, she said, her father retired and moved to Seattle to be closer to Bryson and her husband Bud during his third hip surgery at 77.

He died in 2010 at 87 but the stories and memories, the love, live on.

Smiling, Bryson told stories about her father, whom everyone called "Stuey," that elicited laughter — about an elegant dinner party where her dad was at one end of the table and her uncle, at the other. Asked to pass her uncle a roll, her father, she aid, "threw it to him."

There were warm memories of pancakes on Saturday morning; of a life colored with laughter and love.

But despite their closeness, the Purple Heart was never been spoken of. "Dad never talked about the war. I never knew he got the medal. It's a mystery," Bryson said. "But it was found, in Southold Town."

Bryson thanked the community and everyone who came together to protect the medal and preserve the honor bestowed on those who served to keep the nation safe and protected.

"I feel very privileged to be here today, grateful and blessed," Bryon said. "I feel Dad's presence here."

In a GoFundMe she created to bring the medal back to its rightful family, "Reunite Purple Heart to WWII Recipient’s Daughter," Dabrowski said at first, she had no idea who it had belonged to or how it had ended up in a yard sale.

"I have always had great respect for our veterans, and much appreciation for military-related artifacts. My grandfather served in the U.S. Army during WWI, as an interpreter and bodyguard for General Pershing. Unfortunately, my grandfather passed away 15 years before I was born, but he has always been a major influence in my life," she wrote.

The medal, she said, was being sold by individuals who had no idea who the recipient was, nor how they came into possession of it; that family wished to remain anonymous.

"However, the original recipient’s name was imprinted in the case, and through much research, information was found that led to his daughter," she said.

When she saw the case and then, the medal, Bryson was moved to tears.

Speaking with Patch, Dabrowski said the medal was found in Southold Town. "It was being offered for sale for $100," she said. "I could not afford to purchase the medal myself that day, and contacted fellow members of Mattituck American Legion to see what could be done about obtaining it for the Post."

She knew that the Purple Heart was simply priceless, Dabrowski said.

"I wanted to make sure that it was given respect, and Post members offered to donate the funds to purchase it," she said. "Not knowing if it was even still available, I was able to contact the family, and after speaking to them, over the next few days, I learned that it was still available, and that they had decided to donate it, themselves, to Post 861."

After picking up the Purple Heart, Dabrowski presented it at the Post’s next meeting, and they decided that it should be framed in a shadow box.

"We were going to start researching who 'R.S. Hollaman' was," she said.

Past Post 861 Commander John Ribeiro took the Purple Heart to Jamesport Art & Framing, to be framed by Kristen Asher-O'Rourke.

"Kristen was able to do immediate research on it, and through different contacts, she was able to locate Mr. Hollaman’s daughter, Lynn Bryson, in Seattle, Washington," Dabrowski said.

Because all three pieces of the awarded medal were still inside the case, it is presumed that it must have been kept, safely stored in a box.

"Kristen was the first to speak with Lynn, and she was pretty shocked, and cried," Dabrowski said.

The medal had to be given to Hollaman's daughter, all agreed. "Post 861 first suggested that I go to Seattle, and personally hand-deliver the Purple Heart to Lynn, as the occasion really called for more than it being shipped on its own," she said.

The experience has been meaningful, Dabrowski said. "This journey just keeps evolving, and, in the short amount of time that is has been brought to light, it, certainly has touched many, as such a unique, human interest story. To me, finding the Purple Heart at a yard sale, brought about many feelings. I wanted to make sure that it was respected. But, it also brings to mind, how many other Purple Hearts end up being discarded, for whatever reason. Perhaps it is simply because there is no one left in a family. But, here we have one that is returning home. And, that brings me a tremendous relief, in knowing that it is back with family, and great joy to see how many lives have been affected in such a positive way."

Post 861 Commander Robert Devito agreed: "It's an honor and a privilege to honor someone who served their county many, many years ago when the entire world was at war and everything we knew in America was at stake."

Hollaman served in World War II. "It took everything the United States had to stop German and Japanese aggression and world domination," he said.

Describing how she felt when the medal was brought to her for framing, Asher-O'Rourke said it was "amazing."

She was so passionate about the history of the Purple Heart that she spent the better part of two days researching who Robert Hollaman was, using Google, Facebook, and Ancestry.com, she said.

"Finding his daughter was so special, " she said. "I've framed a lot of art, but to be holding something so meaningful gives you a really special feeling."

Asher O'Rourke was the one to call Hollaman's daughter. "She was over the moon, pretty much in tears," she said. "She didn't know it existed."

Past Post Commander Ribeiro also spoke with Patch. A veteran who served in Korea and Vietnam — his father and grandfather also served in the military — he was deeply moved to hear that Dabrowski had found the Purple Heart.

"It's a big deal to me," he said. "The sad thing is, it was found at a yard sale."

The Purple Heart is America's oldest military award, originally created by George Washington; it later evolved into an award given for wounds suffered at the hands of the enemy, he said.

"It's not what we used to call 'an everybody ribbon,'" he said. "I hate to use this expression but if you got the Purple Heart, you had skin in the game."

Ribeiro also researched Hollaman's service record, and said he was injured on the island of Mindanao in June, 1945. His injuries were so severe that they were infected and he got sepsis, he said.

Speaking with Patch before her journey to New York, Bryson's voice was filled with emotion. "My dad was a kind, loving person and father. Very easygoing. Everyone loved him."

He left forever life lessons. "He taught me to be happy," she said. "He taught me respect."

The story of how she was found is one that still gives her goosebumps, Bryson said.

After Dabrowski found the medal and brought it to Asher-O'Rourke for framing, O'Rourke learned through Ancestry.com that her father had three sisters; the youngest married and became Elizabeth Striano. Through that connection, O'Rourke found Bryson's cousin Janet Striano, who lives in Eugene, Oregon, and with whom she's very close.

"Janet emailed me and said, 'These people are looking for you,'" Bryson said. "I immediately called Kristen and the story unfolded. I was flabbergasted. My husband used a good word — we were gobsmacked."

The experience was a gift, Bryson said. "It was a like my father speaking out to me," she said.

If she were able to speak with her father, just once more, about the miracle of finding his Purple Heart, O'Rourke said she knew just what she'd tell him. "I'd say, 'I love you,'" she said. "'Thank you for sharing a beautiful life with me.'"

Reflecting on how the medal was found, Bryson said she, like the others, believes her father came home from the war and gave the medal to his mother Leila.

When she died, it likely went to her aunt, who her grandmother had lived with. "I'm guessing when my aunt passed my uncle just packed everything up," she said.

The series of events has been nothing short of miraculous, Bryson said. She feels that the medal was meant to find its way home to her.

And she credits all involved in the journey. "I emailed Lisa Dabrowski this morning and said, 'This is all because you went to a yard sale."

The experience has led to other, life-changing connections, including a cousin in Toronto Bryson never knew she had. And meeting Bayles, the veteran whose story so mirrored her father's and who did extensive research to help. When they met, the two shared a embrace and memories.

The medal has changed Bryson's life. "I'm very spiritual and I feel we are all one. This is bringing the community together."

And, on the most deeply personal level, Bryson said, the medal is a part of her father, come home: "It's like having my dad back."

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