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

Soldiers and sailors serving in U.N. peacekeeping operations in Lebanon and Cambodia, for example, have received Purple Hearts. Members of all the services wounded or killed in terrorist attacks in countries ranging from France, Germany and Greece to El Salvador, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have received the Purple Heart.

Myth #7: All Purple Hearts are issued unnamed to the recipient.

Fact: All Purple Hearts issued before WWII were hand-engraved with the recipient's name. Many WWII Purple Hearts were officially named--either by hand or using machine engraving. Today, Purple Hearts awarded to those wounded in action are generally issued unnamed, but aU posthumous Purple Hearts are supposed to be named prior to presentation to next-of-kin.

No Master List

Myth #8: The Army--and the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard have a master list of all Purple Heart recipients.

Fact: There is no such list of the Purple Hearts awarded since 1932. There is no comprehensive compilation of all such awards, chiefly because the authority to award Purple Hearts was so widespread. In WWII, for example, division commanders could award the Purple Heart. But so could every single hospital commander in the European-African and Asiatic-Pacific theaters and the U.S., too.

Myth #9: Credit for the Purple Heart's revival belongs to MacArthur.

Fact: Efforts culminating in the revival of the Purple Heart in 1932 began with Gen. John J. Pershing in 1917. At that time, the U.S. Army had only the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross and Distinguished Service Medal available to recognize heroism and meritorious Service.

The problem, of course, was that these decorations were limited to very high levels of gallantry and performance. Superb yet nonetheless lesser acts of heroism and merit could not be recognized. Pershing wanted the Army to create a "third decoration" to fill this void. The Purple Heart's revival grew out of this search for an additional decoration to reward good soldiering.

While MacArthur did not have the original idea to re-establish the Purple Heart, it was he who signed the General Orders reviving it on Feb. 22, 1932--the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth.

Myth #10: No one knows who got the first modern Purple Heart.

Fact: Maj. Gen. Douglas MacArthur was issued Purple Heart #1. All Purple Hearts manufactured prior to WWI were individually serial numbered. MacArthur received the first one because he was the Army chief of staff.

The Purple Heart remains a unique decoration for American fighters precisely because it is the only award that does not depend on the approval or favor of anyone for its award. Perhaps that explains why the Purple Heart is so highly prized by all who receive it.

STEVE KUPECKY served with D Co., 1st Bn., 7th Marines, Ist Marine Div., in 1967 in Vietnam, where he was awarded two Purple Hearts. He is a member of Post 6123 in Windsor, Conn.

ARMY COL. FREDERIC BORCH III is acting chief prosecutor of the Pentagon's Office of Military Commissions. Borch is the co-author of The Purple Heart: A History of America's Oldest Military Decoration (Tempe, Ariz., 1996).