Minnesota couple looking for owners of WWI heirlooms

(FOX 9) - For the last few years a couple from Belle Plaine has been looking for relatives of a man who was awarded two medals they found from World War One.

Troy and Erica Tikalsky enjoy taking vintage RVs around the country, but they had no idea their nearly 40-year-old motor home would also help them travel back in time.

"I was shocked someone would leave them behind," Erica told fox 9.

The Tikalskys bought a 1985 Bluebird Wanderlodge from a family in Tennessee in 2014, but when they were cleaning it out later that year they found two medals from World War One in a box in one of the drawers – along with a piece of paper with the name first Lt. Thomas Noonan typed on it.

For the last few years a couple from Belle Plaine has been looking for relatives of a man who was awarded two medals they found from World War One.

"First I questioned, are they real? Are they fake? World War One was a long time ago. Obviously it couldn't have been the original owner because it was built in 1985 so it was just a surprise," Troy said.

Through her own research, Erica learned one is a service medal presented by the State of New York, where she believes Noonan was originally from.

She believes the other is a French Military decoration awarded for aviation. But other than that she's run into mostly dead ends.

"It's overwhelming. I can't believe we've turned up almost nothing in our search, and I work at a library and we've turned up almost nothing," she said.

Troy and Erica Tikalsky

The Tikalskys also found an invitation to President Clinton's second inauguration addressed to one of the RVs former owners who has since died. But being able to return the medals to one of Noonan's relatives would mean the most.

"If my dad had been in the war and something like that was floating around in someone else's family, I would want it back absolutely," she said. 

If you have any information about Thomas Noonan or his family, please visit their website HERE.