"I was patrolling and got small arms fire, grenades and artillery. That's when I got hit," Brito said.

He would spend a month in the hospital recovering before being sent home to Colorado. He came home with a pride in his country and the Purple Heart he was awarded.

"Just proud. Happy that I served," Brito said.

His pride in that Purple Heart can be seen in his Colorado license plate that features the Purple Heart emblem. It could also be seen in the custom-made wheel cover he had done for the spare tire on the back of his van.

It was something Brito saved his money to have made and something he was very proud of.

"He said, 'Guess what I did?'" Barbara Brito-Trujillo, Bruno's sister, said. "'I bought myself a birthday gift, you know this is a milestone, I'm 80 years old and you know I bought myself something I'm going to enjoy.'"

The wheel cover was painted by a local artist and cost Brito more than $100.

"It looked beautiful on that cover because it was big," Corine Brito, Bruno's wife, said. "He was so proud of it."

Bruno Brito only had the wheel cover on the van for a day when he and his wife went shopping at a thrift store in Thornton. When they finished shopping and came back out to the van, they found the wheel cover had been taken.

"What a rotten deal that was," Bruno Brito said.

"It was something very close to his heart," Barbara Brito-Trujillo said. "I don't understand how anybody could disrespect a veteran in that way."

Bruno Brito says he hopes whoever took the wheel cover will simply return it, or if someone sees it they will call the police.

To him, it is more than just a wheel cover; it represents a piece of his life and his pride.