|
To recognize and honor USMCVTA members who as
a result of "hostile" actions are Purple Heart
recipients. We also seek to recognize and honor those USMC
Vietnam Tankers who made the "ultimate sacrifice"
and were posthumous recipients of the Purple Heart.
The
ORDER of the PURPLE HEART for MILITARY MERIT, commonly called "The
Purple Heart", is an American decoration - the oldest military
decoration in the world in present use and the first award made
available to a common soldier. It was created by one of the world's
most famed and best-loved heroes - General George Washington. General
Washington is often pictured as a cold, stern soldier, a proud
aristocrat, a martinet. Perhaps he was all of these at times. Yet we
know he showed sympathy and concern for his troops, and was not too
proud to pray, humbly on his knees, for his beloved country and for the
men who served it, and him, so bravely and loyalty. His keen
appreciation of the importance of the common soldier in any campaign
impelled him to recognize outstanding valor and merit by granting a
commission or an advance in rank for the person concerned. In the
summer of 1782 he was ordered by the Continental Congress to cease
doing so - there were no funds to pay the soldiers, much less the
officers! Deprived
of his usual means of reward, he must have searched for a substitute.
Shortly after receiving the "stop" order from Congress, he wrote his
memorable General Orders of August 7, 1782, which read in part as
follows: "The
General, ever desirous to cherish virtuous ambition in his soldiers as
well as foster and encourage every species of military merit, directs
that whenever any singularly meritorious action is performed, the
author of it shall be permitted to wear on his facings, over his left
breast, the figure of a heart in purple cloth or silk edged with narrow
lace or binding. Not only instances of unusual gallantry but also of
extraordinary fidelity and essential service in any way shall meet with
due reward... The name and regiment of the persons so certified are to
be enrolled in a Book of Merit which shall be kept in the orderly
room... Men who have merited this distinction to be suffered to pass
all guards and sentinels which officers are permitted to do... The
order to be retroactive to the earliest stages of the war, and to be a
permanent one... The road to glory in a patriot army and a free country
is thus open to all." Lost
or misfiled for almost 150 years among the War Department Records at
Washington, D.C., this important paper came to light during the search
for Washington's papers prior to the celebration of his Bi-Centennial
in 1932. With it were the dramatic accounts of three soldiers who
received the decoration at Newburgh, N.Y., at Washington's
Headquarters. The book of Merit has not been found. The U.S. War
Department revived the Purple Heart decoration on February 22, 1932.
The revived form is of metal, instead of perishable cloth, made in the
shape of a rich purple heart bordered with gold, with a bust of
Washington in the center and the Washington coat-of-arms at the top.
The latter is believed to have been the source of the stars and stripes
of the American Flag. Intrinsically,
the Purple Heart is the world's costliest military decoration -
nineteen separate operations are required to make it from the rough
heart stamped from bronze to the finished medal, plated with gold and
enameled in various colors, suspended from a purple and white ribbon. The
ORDER of the PURPLE HEART is awarded to members of the armed forces of
the U.S. who are wounded by an instrument of war in the hands of the
enemy and posthumously to the next of kin in the name of those who are
killed in action or die of wounds received in action. It is definitely
a combat decoration. Source: Military
Order Of the Purple Heart
|
