The Purple Heart

[John]

Does anyone know the proper conditions for the award of the Purple Heart? There seems to be alot of rumours about this , and very little facts.

[Tom King]

Have a look at this page it sets out the criteria for the award of the purple heart.

Purple heart criteria

Tom animal

[Guest John Sukey]

The purple heart as originaly established by Washington was an award for military merit, and was made of cloth. One example is known.
It was only when it was reestablished that it was awarded for wounds recieved.

[bigjarofwasps]

animal
It maybe of interest to know, that there is a Purple Heart, availalbe to Police Officers was well. If your interested, I`ll dig out the Criteria for it?

[John]

Sounds interesting BJOW. Dig away! :animal-smiley-025:

[bigjarofwasps]

Basically, its the same as the army one, except its to the police, the only differance is that its got a sheriffs star instead of George Washington. To win it the Officer has to be injuried whilst upholding law and order, and has to have medical treatment, i.e stitches, or broken bone, etc, etc. I think its the Califonia Sheriffs Dept, that issue it. I`ve never seen one, come up for sale. I`ll see if I can dig a picture out and a bit more info.

[Jim Baker]

That is a Departmental award.

It is not available to all police.

[Scott Powell]

This is my grandfathers Purple Heart. He was killed in Operation Cobra,1944

[Scott Powell]

Here is the Reverse

[Ulsterman]

Good mint engraving.

Until 1942 a number of Purple Hearts were also awarded as "merit" decoratons to both soldiers and civillians; one was awarded to a Pacific island native who captured a Japanese pilot. Recently the criteria were changed so as to NOT allow civillians to be awarded the medal (see link above). Some civillians were given the award in Viet Nam as well as WW2. This change is because award of a Purple Heart is now all that is necessary to obtain entrance and full care at a V.A. (Veterans' Adminstration) hospital.

Edited May 13, 2005 by Ulsterman

[John]

Nice update folks.

Scott, what unit was your Grandfather in? It would be nice to know his history. It does annoy me in UK that not enough is done to remember the sacrefices made for the freedom that we live in today. I'm glad that your Vets are generally looked after across the water. :food-smiley-004:

[Scott Powell]

Nice update folks.

Scott, what unit was your Grandfather in? It would be nice to know his history. It does annoy me in UK that not enough is done to remember the sacrefices made for the freedom that we live in today. I'm glad that your Vets are generally looked after across the water. :food-smiley-004:

←

He was in the 2/120th of the 30th Inf divison,went ashore June 15 1944,fought in the hedgrows until they were stalled in St Lo. operation Cobra was to be the breakout of St Lo. It was sucessful,but on two seprate days allied bombing killed 60 men because the smoke to mark enemy lines blew back onto the allied lines.He was killed in the opening moments of the operation =(

[Sal]

Criteria was recently updated to include non wound/bleeding injuries to the head. Under the new rules of the Army, soldiers suffering traumatic brain injuries, such as concussions, during roadside bombings in Iraq and Afghanistan are now eligible to be awarded the Purple Heart.

[Chris Liontas]

In WWI, the PH could also be awarded for "meritorious service" I dont know what the requirements were for such an award though.

[Dave Danner]

Criteria was recently updated to include non wound/bleeding injuries to the head. Under the new rules of the Army, soldiers suffering traumatic brain injuries, such as concussions, during roadside bombings in Iraq and Afghanistan are now eligible to be awarded the Purple Heart.

I'm pretty sure such wounds have always been eligible. As the original War Department General Order stated, the Purple Heart was open to one with a "wound which necessitates treatment by a medical officer and which is received in action with an enemy..." They probably had a problem with people trying to claim Purple Hearts for wounds which were little more than scratches, so they began cracking down and focusing on how penetrative the wound was. This would have had unintended consequences for some with traumatic internal injuries, so they had to revisit the criteria to make sure deserving recipients weren't accidentally excluded.

In WWI, the PH could also be awarded for "meritorious service" I dont know what the requirements were for such an award though.

The Purple Heart wasn't created until 1932. When adopted, those eligible were those who had received a wound chevron or those who had been awarded a Meritorious Service Citation Certificate by the AEF. Those who received a Citation Certificate for heroism were eligible for the Silver Star, also created in 1932. As noted above, there was also a rule for eligibility for those who might not have had a wound chevron, but could document having been wounded. Sometime early in World War II, they changed the rules to eliminate the meritorious service awards (around the same time they created the Bronze Star?). It wasn't until 1943 that the Purple Heart was extended to the Department of the Navy as well (with retroactive elegibility).

A story which may or may not be true is that the Purple Heart was originally only going to be for meritorious service, but the Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, realized that while he would get a bunch of Silver Stars for his many citations for heroism while serving with the 42nd Division in World War I, he wouldn't get any Purple Hearts. So broadening the pool of eligibility to include those wounded or killed while doing their duty just happened to benefit him. I suppose this story would be appealing to critics of MacArthur who viewed him as a glory hound.

[ostprussenmann_new]

Currently the medal is awarded to military members wounded in combat. There is some current talk of awarding the medal to former and current military members who have recorded PTSD and TBI.

[Chris Liontas]

I'm pretty sure such wounds have always been eligible. As the original War Department General Order stated, the Purple Heart was open to one with a "wound which necessitates treatment by a medical officer and which is received in action with an enemy..." They probably had a problem with people trying to claim Purple Hearts for wounds which were little more than scratches, so they began cracking down and focusing on how penetrative the wound was. This would have had unintended consequences for some with traumatic internal injuries, so they had to revisit the criteria to make sure deserving recipients weren't accidentally excluded.

The Purple Heart wasn't created until 1932. When adopted, those eligible were those who had received a wound chevron or those who had been awarded a Meritorious Service Citation Certificate by the AEF. Those who received a Citation Certificate for heroism were eligible for the Silver Star, also created in 1932. As noted above, there was also a rule for eligibility for those who might not have had a wound chevron, but could document having been wounded. Sometime early in World War II, they changed the rules to eliminate the meritorious service awards (around the same time they created the Bronze Star?). It wasn't until 1943 that the Purple Heart was extended to the Department of the Navy as well (with retroactive elegibility).

A story which may or may not be true is that the Purple Heart was originally only going to be for meritorious service, but the Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, realized that while he would get a bunch of Silver Stars for his many citations for heroism while serving with the 42nd Division in World War I, he wouldn't get any Purple Hearts. So broadening the pool of eligibility to include those wounded or killed while doing their duty just happened to benefit him. I suppose this story would be appealing to critics of MacArthur who viewed him as a glory hound.

Thanks Dave! I never understood what grounds qualified as meritorius service. This makes more sense.

[Hinrik]

Here is one of my Purple Hearts, issued to a hard charging Marine for actions / wounds in Iwo Jima:

Non regulation (private) engraved back:

[scottplen]

heres one of mine shown before

Killed in action Feb 19 1945 with 5th USMC division

[scottplen]

heres another Brave Marine KIA Okinowa suger loaf hill

Both hearts Officially engraved as presented to Next of kin

[Lukasz Gaszewski]

It maybe of interest to know, that there is a Purple Heart, availalbe to Police Officers was well. If your interested, I`ll dig out the Criteria for it?

I think there are many types, for various state and local police forces across the US. I have myself seen several ones.

[Doc Wilson]

The Criteria for the award for the purple heart is AR 600-8-22. The PTSD issue is a dead horse... the TBI is considered acceptable under the following criteria. Enhanced MRI showing ischemia or scar tissue ( indicative of a closed head bleed), Loss of consciousness greater than a Mild Grade three concussion when caused by an enemy generated explosion. Chapter 2-8 of the Awards Regs covers it.

Edited August 10, 2011 by Doc Wilson

[John F.]

The Texas National Guard has thier own Purple Heart Medal. The concept of the medal was developed in August of 2001 after two Texas Guardsmen were killed in a vehicle rollover accident in the aftermath of clean-up operations for Tropical Storm Allison that devastated southeast Texas in June 2001. The original intent for the TXPH was to have a State medal to award to Texas Soldiers and Airmen who are killed or injured during disaster relief operations like floods, tornados, fires, etc. However, 9/11 happened and the original purpose of the award morphed and the medal became a redundant/duplicate award to the federal Purple Heart, meaning that the recipient of the TXPH must meet the same criteria as the federal award. The medal was approved by the Texas Legislature on May 2, 2007 in House Bill # 2897. The medal bears resemblance to the federal award with a few changes. The ribbon has a white stripe down the center; the effigy of George Washington is replaced by the Texas State Seal; and the Alamo adorns the top of the planchet instead of a Washington Coat of Arms.

Edited March 7, 2012 by John F.