The Purple Heart: separating fact from fiction: here is everything you ever wanted to know about America's wound medal

VFW Magazine, Feb, 2004 by Fred Borch, Steve Kupecky

As of January 2004, some 360 Americans had been killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 2,500 have been wounded in these theaters of fighting. Consequently, the Purple Heart is once again being awarded to Americans in uniform. So now is a good time to take a quick look at America's oldest military decoration--and separate the myths from facts.

Myth #1: There are few real differences between Gen. George Washington's Badge of Military Merit and today's Purple Heart medal.

Fact: Except for a similarity in appearance, and the inspiration of the former in creating the latter, they are very different. Established in 1782, Washington's Badge of Military Merit was a purple-colored, heart-shaped cloth badge. It was awarded to soldiers in the Continental Army for both heroism and meritorious service. While it seems likely that a number of these badges were awarded, only three are definitely known to have been presented.

In any event, after the Revolution, the Continental Army was disbanded and the "purple heart" was forgotten for 150 years. In 1932, when Gen. Douglas MacArthur revived the award as a full-sized medal, he looked to Washington's badge only for inspiration, since the new Purple Heart had an entirely different purpose.

Myth #2: The Purple Heart has always been an award for combat-wounded.

Fact: Army leaders working to revive the Purple Heart after World War I never intended it to become an award for those wounded in action--the wound chevron worn by a soldier on his sleeve already fulfilled that purpose. Rather, the new Purple Heart was for wartime merit.

Gen. MacArthur, however, in signing the General Orders resurrecting the Purple Heart, decided that wounds received in action fell into the category of merit. Consequently, from 1932 on, a number of Purple Hearts were awarded to World War I veterans for meritorious service in France and Germany.

A small number of Purple Hearts also were awarded for merit early in WWII. For example, Annie Fox, a nurse who aided the wounded in the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, received a Purple Heart for her meritorious work. Similarly, Army Air Forces Gen. George Kenney received a meritorious Purple Heart for developing a new type of bomb.

In 1942, however, the War Department changed its regulations so that the Purple Heart was exclusively for wounds received from enemy action. Thus giving the Purple Heart its current status as a unique decoration for combat wounds.

Myth #3: Soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen have always been eligible for the Purple Heart.

Fact: From 1932 to 1942, the Purple Heart was exclusively an Army award. Only after President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order making the Purple Heart a Navy award did sailors and Marines--and Coast Guard personnel then serving as part of the wartime Navy--become eligible to receive the Purple Heart for combat wounds suffered after Dec. 7, 1941.

Civilian Eligibility

Myth #4: Civilians may be awarded the Purple Heart.

Fact: From 1942 to 1997, civilians serving or closely affiliated with the armed forces--as government employees, Red Cross workers, war correspondents and the like--were eligible to receive the Purple Heart. About 100 men and women received the award, the most famous being newspaperman Ernie Pyle, who was awarded a posthumous Army Purple Heart after being killed by a Japanese sniper in 1945.

The most recent Purple Hearts presented to civilians occurred after the terrorist attacks at Khobar Towers, Saudi Arabia, in 1996--about 40 U.S. civil service employees received the award for their injuries.

In 1997, however, at the urging of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Congress passed legislation prohibiting future awards of the Purple Heart to civilians. Today, the Purple Heart is only for those men and women in uniform. Civilians who are killed or wounded as a result of hostile action now receive the new Defense of Freedom Medal, created shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,2001.

Myth #5: Since the Purple Heart was created in 1932, only those wounded after WWI have been eligible to receive it.

Fact: The War Department decided in 1932 that any veteran who had been wounded in any Army campaign could apply for the new decoration. As a result, about 10 Union veterans from the Civil War applied for--and received--the Purple Heart. So did a small number of soldiers who had served in the Indian campaigns, Spanish-American War (1898), Philippines War (1899-1902), Boxer Rebellion in China (1900) and the Punitive Expedition into Mexico (1916).

Several Union veterans proudly wore their Purple Hearts at the 75th reunion of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1938. By the way, Confederate veterans were ineligible for the Purple Heart because they obviously had not been part of the U.S. Army.

Myth #6: The Purple Heart is only for wounds received in actual combat.

Fact: Since 1984, when President Ronald Reagan signed an executive order expanding its award criteria, the Purple Heart may be awarded to those killed and wounded in peacekeeping operations, as well as terrorist attacks.