is an interesting award. It can be the easiest award to earn or the absolutely worst.
When I was a shiny new soldier I noticed one of my sergeants had a purple heart ribbon with an oak cluster. The oak cluster designated a second award. "Where did you get hit?" I asked him.
He smiled and told me the second one was the one he had earned but it was the first one that counted. I looked confused.
He explained that the second one he had gotten for getting hit in the ass with shrapnel. It was a bona fide would and required hospitalization. He was out of action for a while.
The first one was the one that he said counted for something. He told me an incoming rocket attack had hit his fire base and he was the only casualty and didn't realize it. he had gotten a small cut on his cheekbone and his lieutenant had noticed it. It was bleeding slightly and he was told to have a medic take a look at it.
He said the medic put a band aid and unknown to him put him in for the medal. when it was awarded he went to see 'Doc' and asked him why he had bothered for what was little more than a scratch.
Doc replied that a single drop of blood qualified a person for the medal and that in some places give awardees benefits like a reduction in property taxes and/or other things.
The good sergeant said that between then and the time he retired he was going to look up the benefits of being a PH awardee. This was long before the internet so he had a lot of looking up to do.
If you spill a single drop of blood you can be awarded a PH. If you are killed or worse, you get a PH. If you spend 50 years in a VA hospital as a vegetable you get a PH.
More than once I have heard it referred to as either the cheapest or the most expensive medal a soldier or sailor can be awarded.
========================================
This post in no way is a slight to the medal or anyone that has been awarded it. It is simply an explanation of how/why it is awarded.
No comments:
Post a Comment