From: Mail Tribune

A historic Colt .45-caliber, semi-automatic pistol stolen more than 30 years ago from a Medal of Honor winner in South Carolina has been returned to its rightful owner. The gun and owner were reunited after a history buff in Medford, who bought the old handgun in an online auction last month, tracked down the retired Marine whose name is engraved on it. “I knew if I found him and it was his gun, I couldn’t keep it,” said George Berry, 71, who knew little about the history of the gun when he purchased it from an auction house in Pennsylvania.

The story begins when Berry, a retired Navy warrant officer who also served in the Marine Corps, decided this summer to fulfill a lifelong dream of owning one of the historic handguns. “I’ve always wanted to own a Colt Model 1911 .45 automatic — always wanted one,” he says. “John Wayne had one in every World War II movie I’ve ever seen him in.”

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