The Purple Heart

THE OVERLOOK

By Tom Clavin

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How many of you know why Daniel Bissell, William Brown, and Elijah Churchill are important names in American history? Okay, only a few hands are raised, so I’d better tell you. It was 244 years ago this week that these three men, all sergeants, were the first soldiers to receive the Purple Heart, the oldest of U.S. military decorations.

The original Purple Heart, designated as the Badge of Military Merit, was established by General George Washington -- then the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army -- by order from his Newburgh, New York, headquarters on August 7, 1782. Washington himself awarded the new decoration to Bissell, Brown, and Churchill.

And then the Badge of Military Merit disappeared. Although never abolished, the award of the badge was not proposed again officially until well after World War I.

On October 10, 1927, General Charles Summerall, the Army’s chief of staff, directed that a draft bill be sent to Congress “to revive the Badge of Military Merit.” The bill was withdrawn and action on the case ceased. But that was not the end of the effort.

In January 1931, Summerall’s successor, General Douglas MacArthur, confidentially reopened work on a new design, involving the Washington Commission of Fine Arts. Elizabeth Will, an Army heraldic specialist in the Office of the Quartermaster General, was named to redesign the newly revived medal, which then became known as the Purple Heart. Using general specifications provided to her, Will created the design sketch for the present medal. The new design, which exhibits a bust and profile of George Washington and a purple ribbon, was issued on the bicentennial of Washington’s birth in February 1932.

As it happened, the first “modern” Purple Heart was awarded to Douglas MacArthur. He was never physically shot or wounded by bullets, but during World War I he had been exposed to mustard gas twice during combat on the Western Front. Instead of traditional combat wounds, he was incapacitated by poison gas attacks. (It should be noted that he often refused to wear a gas mask.)

During the early period of American involvement in World War II, the Purple Heart was awarded both for wounds received in action against the enemy and for meritorious performance of duty. With the establishment of the Legion of Merit, by an Act of Congress, the practice of awarding the Purple Heart for meritorious service was discontinued. By an executive order in December 1942, the decoration was applied to all branches of the military. This same executive order also authorized the award only for wounds received.

After the award was re-authorized in 1932 some U.S. Army wounded from conflicts prior to the First World War applied for, and were awarded, the “new” Purple Heart. No posthumous awards were permitted . . . until February 1952, when a new executive order allowed for this. Yet another executive order, this one in February 1984, authorized the awarding of the Purple Heart as a result of terrorist attacks or while serving as part of a peacekeeping force. There have been several small amendments since.

During World War II, 1,506,000 Purple Heart medals were manufactured, many in anticipation of the estimated casualties resulting from the planned Allied invasion of Japan. By the end of the war, even accounting for medals lost, stolen, or wasted, nearly 500,000 remained. The total combined American military casualties of the 70 years following the end of the war—including the Korean and Vietnam Wars—did not exceed that number.

In 2000, there remained 120,000 Purple Heart medals in stock between all U.S. armed forces. The existing surplus allowed combat units in Iraq and Afghanistan to keep Purple Hearts on hand for immediate award to soldiers wounded in the field. The Defense Supply Center in Philadelphia, responsible for overseeing the production and distribution of the medals to each branch of the U.S. military, has ordered the creation of thousands more Purple Hearts since 2000. Identical in specification to those made in the 1940s, these new medals are today interspersed with stocks of the old medals.

No surprise here: August 7 of every year is recognized as “National Purple Heart Day.”

A related question: Who is the only U.S. president to be awarded a Purple Heart? It’s John F. Kennedy, for his heroic Navy service during World War II – and especially when he was captain of PT-109, which was rammed and sunk in the Pacific 83 years ago this week, in August 1943.

Tom Clavin is the bestselling author/co-author of 25 books, the latest being Vengeance: The Last Stands of Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull, published by St. Martin’s Press. Please go to your local bookstore or to Bookshop.org, Amazon.com, BN.com, or tomclavin.com to purchase a copy.