PURPLE HEARTS, VETERANS OF THE WAR IN IRAQ ABOUT THE PURPLE HEART The story of the Purple Heart medal starts with President George Washington, who was also a general. Being a military man, General Washington understood and appreciated what his men, the soldiers, experienced on the battlefield, and the relationships forged there. Whenever any soldier distinguished himself through valor or any other meritorious actions, General Washington was quick and happy to grant the individuals a commission or an advance in rank. In 1782, however, General Washington was ordered by the Continental Congress of the United States to desist from this because there wasn’t enough money to pay the soldiers, let alone the newly-ordered officers. In response, General Washington presented his alternative in his General Orders of August 7, 1782, in which he says: The General, ever desirous to cherish 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....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....The order to be retroactive to the earliest stages of the war, and to be a permanent one.1 These records were lost for 150 years in the War Department, and this award slipped out of history. Then in 1932 these records (minus the Book of Merit, which has never been recovered) were found during a search for Washington’s papers generated by Washington’s bicentennial. On February 22, 1932, the War Department reissued a form of the medal, stating: 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 an enemy and posthumously awarded to the next of kin in the name of those who are killed in action or die of wounds received in action. It is specifically a combat decoration. Concurrently, the Military Order of the Purple Hearts was formed. It is composed only of Purple Heart recipients. Wives, mothers, and daughters are eligible to join the Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Military Order of the Purple Hearts.2 The Purple Heart is the world’s oldest military decoration still in use, and was the first American award available to the common soldier.3 1 “An American Decoration,” www.purpleheart.org, retrieved November 4, 2005. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid.		TEACHER PACKET CONTENTS About the Purple Heart The War in Iraq Map of Iraq Student Activities Bibliography