A World War I medal belonging to a veteran from New Jersey has been returned to the man’s family after being lost for years.

The medal belonged to veteran Dan Battaglia. It was given to him by the borough of Wanaque sometime in the 1940s for his military service.

At some point in time the medal was lost. It was eventually found by a Wanaque resident on Conklintown Road and was then turned in to police.

Battaglia never married and did not have any children, so Wanaque police say tracking the family down proved difficult. But eventually two cousins came forward.

"I started digging through pictures to see if I could find one of him, but my father recently passed and we've thrown some things out,” Battaglia’s cousin says. “But I do remember him. We used to have him over for family dinners during the holidays."

The cousins say that the medal will be passed down for generations to come.