UBB.threads Forums General Militaria United States Militaria KIA Purple Hearts

Mr. Jerry, I understand that Purple Hearts awarded to next of kin were engraved on the back. Was it the soldiers name, serial number or both? Thanks and Regards, Leipzig

Serial numbers were never used on officially engraved Purple Hearts.

It depends on whether the serviceman served in the Army, Navy or USMC if rank was included.

Navy and USMC Posthumous Purple Hearts included rank.

On Army Purple Hearts just the name was engraved on the reverse. There were several styles of official engraving . All of them are distinct styles and any variation away from these styles are either unofficial or spurious.

Here's a great site showing period engraving:
http://purplehearts.net/id6.html

Purple Hearts given for Korea and after had one style of engraving only, and did not include rank, regardless of branch of service.

sorry, double tap.

Dwight has given some great info!

Also it is important to remember that having an engraved heart does not guarantee the soldier was killed.

Severely wounded soldiers, and one who were wounded and spent some time in POW camps generally also had engraved medals. As they had time to engrave the medals while the soldiers were in the hospitals.

Also some of the WWI Veterans that applied for their hearts (as they were first issued in 1932) first applied for them in the patriotic fervor that the country was in during WWII, so you can see a WWII era PH with an engraved WW1 soldiers name.

Thanks, Dwight and Mr. Jerry. Good info! Regards, Leipzig