Hundreds may receive Purple Heart, nation's oldest military medal

[thedrifter]

Hundreds may receive Purple Heart, nation's oldest military medal

By Jeff McDonald
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

April 20, 2003

They gave up hands and feet, their good health and ? more than 125 times ? their lives. They were shot, bombed, beaten and otherwise broken, and in the flush of victory are mending slowly, even as death loiters around some corners.

Now with the ugliest part of the war behind them, the injured men and women of Operation Iraqi Freedom can now look forward to one of the more rewarding aspects of military service ? being honored by their peers and their country.

As U.S. forces sweep through Baghdad and other Iraqi cities to maintain order and begin reconstruction, military leaders here are preparing to award Purple Hearts and other medals to soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.

"Awards are really important symbols of public recognition," said Master Sgt. Kara Morin, responsible for processing nominations at Camp Pendleton, the home base for tens of thousands of the Marines deployed in Iraq. "They honor service that goes above and beyond normal expectation."

Known in jest as the one decoration nobody wants, the Purple Heart is the nation's oldest military honor and was created by Gen. George Washington.

Three Revolutionary War veterans received the honor, which in 1782 was called the Badge of Military Merit. It was little more than a patch of blue cloth ? believed to be from the uniform of a Continental Army soldier ? with a purple silk heart sewn on top, bound with a braid and rimmed with lace.

The honor fell into disuse until Gen. Douglas MacArthur proposed reviving it for select World War I veterans. The War Department announced its newest decoration Feb. 22, 1932 ? the bicentennial of Washington's birth ? and used a profile of Washington in the redesign.

On May 30, the U.S. Postal Service will unveil a 37-cent stamp that features the Purple Heart.

Almost all of the roughly 250,000 U.S. troops in Iraq will receive participation medals for their wartime service. But only a fraction of them will be nominated for distinguished service awards.

In addition to executing war plans, field commanders take notes detailing the actions of servicemen and women they lead. Those written reminders typically determine who is designated for awards of merit and Purple Hearts.

By latest count, 128 U.S. service members have been killed and 554 injured in the war. Casualties do not automatically receive the Purple Heart, which is awarded for combat wounds and in a handful of additional cases.

Injuries caused by accidents do not merit the honor. Victims of friendly fire and terrorist attacks were added to eligibility rules in recent years, along with peacekeepers harmed in the field and troops taken prisoner.

But servicemen who suffer from long-term illnesses such as Gulf War syndrome and exposure to Agent Orange still do not qualify.

During the 1991 Persian Gulf War, 110 of the U.S. deaths were reported as hostile and 495 of the injured troops were classified as wounded in action, officials at the Pentagon said.

Merit awards can mean much more than the thanks of a grateful nation. They often lead to promotions and pay raises. Not only that, Purple Heart recipients get a higher priority for health care at Veterans Administration hospitals and do not have to make co-payments.

Some veterans question whether the standards for awarding Purple Hearts are strict enough.

"There's a lot of people who got Purple Hearts for getting cut with a K-ration can," said Ken Tomlinson of Oceanside, past president of the Southern California chapter of the 3rd Marine Division Association, a national veterans group. "That's the saying."

Tomlinson was denied a Purple Heart after suffering ill effects from his exposure to the toxic defoliant Agent Orange when he served in Vietnam.

"It's not physically putting a bullet through you, but it does crazy things to you," Tomlinson said of the chemical. "The only thing I got was a combat medal."

The government does not track how many Purple Hearts have been issued, but estimates range as high as 1.5 million.

In some cases, qualifying for the Purple Heart can hinge on something as minor as having the field medic fill out the right papers or as uncommon as personally knowing the clerk in charge of filing documents. The daily moods of military commanders also can play a role.

Jay Phillips, adjutant general of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the nation's leading service organization for Purple Heart recipients, said that one particularly harsh winter during the Korean War, Army and Marine Corps officers handed out the medals to victims of frostbite.

"That was a mistake they recognized and they corrected as quickly as they could," he said.

Military officials concede that uneven rules and favoritism at times played some part in doling out meritorious service medals in previous wars. They say commanders now do a better job of sorting out deserving candidates.

"Those checks and balances are constantly in place," said Morin, Camp Pendleton's supervisor of awards. "I don't think they're going to let anyone go unnoticed."

Nonetheless, thousands of veterans who were overlooked for Purple Hearts during their wartime service have applied retroactively for the awards. Others are seeking the honor on behalf of aging or deceased fathers. But with all the paperwork and various testimonials required, approval often takes years.

"It's a long process because there's a lot of people asking for information," said Bob Pitchford, a career Navy man from Clairemont who is trying to obtain a Purple Heart for his late father.

The senior Pitchford, who barely survived a Japanese kamikaze attack in World War II, died two years ago and did not pursue a Purple Heart. His son wants the medal to present to his mother before she passes away.

"It's unfortunate that it wasn't taken care of at the time," Pitchford said.

Purple Hearts can have an impact that current soldiers may not appreciate for years, recipients say.

More than five decades have gone by since Jim Schade, then a 21-year-old infantryman, was hit by shrapnel from a Chinese hand grenade near the Imjin River in Korea.

His face, chest and right arm were torn to bits, and he spent three months in a hospital before returning to his unit. Half a year later, he was shot in the leg and was sent home.

Now 73 and retired in Clairemont, the Army veteran of nine years is equal parts proud and circumspect when asked to reflect on the twin Purple Hearts he earned.

"I never talk about them," Schade said. "What the hell's to talk about? I'm just one of many."



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Jeff McDonald: (619) 542-4585; jeff.mcdonald@uniontrib.com



Sempers,

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