A lost medal belonging to a Windsor man who served in Afghanistan is going to be returned to his family.
The General Campaign Star South West Asia medal for Afghanistan, awarded to the late Trooper Stefan George Jankowski, will be formally presented to his family this weekend.
Jankowski served with the Royal Canadian Dragoons during Task Force 309 in Afghanistan.
He passed away in 2011 at the age of 25 due to a prescription drug overdose shortly after his release from the Canadian Armed Forces, and following his death, his Afghanistan medal went missing.
Windsor's Hunter Kersey served almost two and a half years in Afghanistan with Jankowski and told AM800's Mornings with Mike and Meg that they were awarded their medals while in Kandahar, but they couldn't find his when they went to bury him.
"Some people view it as a material possession, but I view it, and other people, specifically veterans, view medals as something significant, and they are. It's a symbol of someone's accomplishment and something that can be passed down," he says.
Jankowski's family and friends have searched for it for many years, and recently it was located out of province and is now being returned to Windsor.
Jankowski's daughter Destiny told AM800's Mornings with Mike and Meg that it's amazing the medal is coming back home.
"I can't wait to be able to put it into his shadow box, have it up, and be able to look at it with the pride he would have," she says.
The medal will be formally presented to his family on Sunday, March 8, at 1 p.m. at Royal Canadian Legion Branch 644 at 1570 Marentette Avenue in Windsor.
Veterans who deployed on the same tour will be in attendance, along with community members and elected officials, including Conservative Essex MP Chris Lewis.