A piece of David Hintson’s life is missing.

On Feb. 23, Hintson returned to his home on the 3500 block of Redwood Road, which use to belong to his grandparents, after an extended stay in the hospital to find it ransacked and several of his beloved antiques and precious family heirlooms missing from the shelves and rooms where they belonged in the family home.

“I had been in the hospital, and when I got out and came home the house had been broken into,” Hintson said. “They took stuff that I personally would never think a thief in Warren County would take.”

Antique chairs, African wall hangings, paintings, statues from London, mirrors, an antique sword and old clocks that belonged to his great- grandmother were some of the items taken, which he said he didn’t think people would be able to sell on the street. If the items were sold, he expects it would be in an antique shop.

“The most important thing they took and the one that I miss the most is my father’s Purple Heart and Silver Star,” Hintson said.

Hinston said his father, John Leonard Hintson, picked up a live grenade that was thrown into the group of soldiers he was with and it exploded as he was tossing it away from the men. He suffered brain damage and his arm was severely injured.

“He was wounded in Sicily in 1943 and he died a few years later,” Hintson said, adding he was 15 years old when his father passed away. “He would be 92 now.”

He said the government would replace the medals that were taken in the original leather and satin boxes, but he would rather have the actual medals his father received back in his possession.

“I don’t even know why anybody would steal them. They’re not worth anything. They’re strictly sentimental,” Hintson said.

Hintson was recovering from a broken neck and chose to move closer to town because of his injury. During the moving process, he had a heart attack and has been in and out of the hospital, allowing the thieves plenty of time to pilfer through the house. He said every drawer and every closet was opened with its contents dumped on the ground.

He has no idea who would have stolen these items from him, but he said he hopes someone saw the crime taking place. With the amount of items stolen and the size of some of those items, he believes whoever took them had to have a large truck parked in the driveway for some amount of time.

“Living on Redwood Road most of my life, I know that nothing goes on on Redwood Road that the people that drive up and down that road everyday don’t know,” Hintson said.

Any with information about the crime should call the Warren County Sheriff’s Office at 601-636-1761.