For years, it was simply another piece of paper tucked away among old family records.
But while sorting through his late father's military documents during a spring-cleaning project, Rockville Centre resident Robert Schildkraut discovered something he never expected: His father, Marvin Schildkraut, had been awarded the National Defense Service Medal when he was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army in June 1955.
The medal itself, however, had long since disappeared.
"I saw that he had won this medal, and obviously we no longer had the medal," Robert said.
The National Defense Service Medal was awarded to members of the armed forces who served honorably during designated periods of national emergency. Like many keepsakes collected over a lifetime, Marvin Schildkraut's medal had likely been lost during one of several family moves. After finding his father's discharge papers, Robert became determined to recover a piece of the family's history.
He researched the medal-replacement process, but worried that a request could sit for months or years before being processed. Hoping to speed up the process, he reached out to U.S. Rep. Laura Gillen's office for assistance.
Robert explained that recovering the medal would mean a great deal to his family.
"It really was just reaching out, making sure we get the right person on the phone," Gillen explained.
After contacting the National Archives and Records Administration, Gillen's staff identified the appropriate officials, and gathered documentation from the Schildkraut family. Although the office was initially told that replacing the medal could take up to a year, staff members stayed in contact throughout the process.
And as it happened, the medal was ready in less than two weeks. "From the time they sent the email to the time I got the medal was about 11 business days," Robert said.
On July 7, Gillen presented the replacement medal to Schildkraut at her Garden City office, returning a piece of his father's military history to the family.
After his Army service, Marvin Schildkraut built a career spanning more than five decades as a mechanical designer in Long Island's avionics and defense industry, according to Robert. He worked for a number of defense contractors before spending roughly two decades with Aeroflex Labs in Plainview, producing detailed mechanical drawings by hand for military and aviation equipment years before computer-aided design became the norm.
Because much of the work involved defense projects, Robert said his father rarely spoke about the specifics of what he designed. He simply went to work each day and supported his family by working in an industry that helped define Long Island's economy for much of the second half of the 20th century.
"My father really never sought recognition, but he did a lot of hard work," Robert said.
Although Marvin seldom discussed his military service, one story stayed with his son. Drafted into the Army during the Korean War, Marvin was stationed at Camp Gordon, in Georgia, where he served alongside soldiers from different backgrounds. On one trip off base, Marvin and several fellow servicemen walked into a restaurant in Augusta, Ga., with a young Black soldier from their unit. The restaurant owner refused to serve the group unless the Black soldier left.
Rather than accept that condition, the group walked away.
"They got up and left," Robert recalled. "I remember that story very well. I was proud of my father for doing that."
Away from work, Marvin was an avid newspaper reader who shared a love of baseball with his son. Robert remembers watching Mets games with him on a black-and-white television before his father took him to his first game at Shea Stadium. Seeing the bright green field in person was a childhood memory he never forgot.
Marvin died in 2009, at age 80, but recovering his medal has prompted his family to reflect on his military service and the life he built afterward.
The experience has also inspired relatives to revisit their own family military records. Robert said that one cousin had begun searching through her late father's discharge papers to determine whether any medals may be eligible for replacement.
For Robert, 63, recovering the medal wasn’t just about replacing something that had been lost. It was about preserving his father's memory for future generations.
For Gillen, helping military families carries personal meaning.
"My father was a Marine," she said. "We owe such a debt of gratitude to the people who served our country in the military. And I feel humbled and privileged to be able to help any military family."
