UBB.threads Forums General Militaria United States Militaria PURPLE HEART

Here is a beautifully, fancy engraved Purple Heart that I recently picked up.

Is there any intertest in these or does anybody have any interest any longer?

John

beautiful piece~!

There is still great deal of interest in named pieces like these. The US Navy ones are particularly nicely done. They are a 'notch above' for most medal collectors. I only have a few PHs in my own collection, I just haven; been lucky enough to find that many. Buying medals from family members is only second in difficulty to buying pistols.

Do you know anything about the sailor?

John,

Yes, I am interested in them. Do you have any more pictures?
Do you want to sell it?

Chief

Interesting, he died after the war? or was he pronounced KIA a year after?:

Electrician's Mate, Third Class, U.S. Navy
Service # 7245436
United States Naval Reserve
Entered the Service from: Illinois
Died: 17-Jan-46
Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial
Honolulu, Hawaii
Awards: Purple Heart

I am not quite sure why but . . . though I am Canadian, I have always had a fondness for, and something of an emotional attachment to, the American Purple Heart. I recently had the opportunity to purchase one which was awarded to a WWII American soldier who was wounded in action. Here are two photos of his Purple Heart. ~ Ian

2.

quote:

Originally posted by Mr. Jerry:
Interesting, he died after the war? or was he pronounced KIA a year after?:

Jerry,

Probably a FOD- Finding of Death, one year and one day after going missing, per US law.

Bushido,

Nice Purple Heart, thanks for sharing!

Mr. Jerry, very interesting info. Where did you look that up?

Chief

quote:

Originally posted by Chief:
Mr. Jerry, very interesting info. Where did you look that up?

Chief

Chief, it's an ancient Chinese secret.

Actually there are two very good resources to find out WWII KIAs. The first is the American Battle Monument Commission website ( www.ABMC.gov ). The ABMC site lists all those who are buried in an overseas cemetery, or who are listed on the Tablets of the Missing, and whose remains were never recovered. This site does not list those (about 150,000) whose remains were brought home after the war and laid to rest in private or National Cemeteries in the United States. The ABMC site lists the name, rank, date of death, state where entered service and in which overseas cemetery the servicemember is buried, or where commemorated if not recovered. In the case of US Army personnel, the parent unit is also given. There are some problems however. If a servicemember was listed as missing in action and whose remains were not recovered, the date of death listed is usually when the Finding of Death was issued. By law, the FOD was issued one year and one day after the service person was last seen. FOD's are common for USAAF, USN, and some USMC personnel and less common for Army and Marine ground forces, but are found for those who died during or after the fall of the Philippines. IIRC, there were 80,000+ Americans who have no known grave or were lost at sea during WWII. I have found some other inaccuracies, such as personnel from Cavalry or Reconnaissance units listed sre sometimes listed as Army Air Corps. This stems from the fact that the basic Cavalry and Recon unit was the Squadron and the assumption was made by the people doing the listing that Squadrons belonged to the Air Corps.

By and large, though, the ABMC does a great job maintaining overseas cemeteries and monuments, and keeps the memory of those fallen alive.

The other site which is useful is the National World War II Memorial site at www.wwiimemorial.com . The registry contains the same information as the ABMC site, but also lists those who were brought home after the war. For those, all the information listed is, Name, Rank, Homestate, Serial Number and category of death; DNB- Died, Non-Battle, KIA- Killed in Action, DOW- Died of Wounds (this means the casualty died after making it to the battalion aid station, surgical hospital or general hospital) or, FOD- Finding of Death. There was another category, MIA or missing in action, but I believe that all MIAs were reclassified as FODs later on. There is no date of death or parent unit given on those names that appear soley on the National Archives listing.

The registry is also used by families of those who served in the armed forces and survived or those who worked in war-related industries to commemorate the sacrifices and service of the millions of Americans during WW2. If you know of someone that served or worked to win the war, be sure to add their name to the registry.

Hope this helps,
Dwight

To add to my previous post, for information about the Purple Heart Medal, you can't do better than Tom Lane's excellent site www.purplehearts.net. It's great, and Tom's a great guy to deal with to boot.

Thanks Dwight,
Excellent job explaining about it. The NARA.gov site is also useful as they now have a service # section. This is good for WIA or POW hearts. Many times you can find out where a guy enlisted, and then ask the county for records. Most GI registered their DD-214s when they got home.

Thanks for that hint Jerry!

Oh by the way.... I am always interested in WWII posthumous Army Purple Hearts, especially Armor, Cavalry, Recon or Tank Destroyer troops. But, I like the Infantry ones too.

USPS Purple Heart Stamps....Now Available at a Post Office near you....

Was down to the PO and asked about any New or Interesting Stamps.....WHAM ...She shows me the New 41 cent PURPLE HEART Stamp!!!

Buy them, Use them on Postage & Collect Them.

There is NO better way to show our gratitude for those who 'Gave' for us. Dave/dblmed

From the USPS Web Site:

PURPLE HEART POSTAGE STAMP HONORS SACRIFICES OF THOSE WHO SERVED

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Postmaster General announced today that the U.S. Postal Service will issue the Purple Heart stamp at the First-Class Mail price of 41 cents.

“Re-issuing this stamp demonstrates our nation’s eternal gratitude to our military service members,” said Postmaster General Jack Potter. “It is a lasting tribute to the many brave members of the Armed Forces who have served our country.”

This is the third issue of the Purple Heart definitive postage stamp. The Purple Heart stamp was first issued on May 30, 2003, at Mount Vernon, Va. The second issuance was on May 26, 2006, at the 75th Anniversary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Purple Heart is awarded in the name of the President of the United States to members of the U.S. military who have been wounded in combat or to the next of kin of those killed in action.

The stamp image features a photograph by Ira Wexler of one of two Purple Hearts awarded to James Loftus Fowler of Alexandria, Virginia. Fowler was a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Marines and was serving as battalion commander of the Third Battalion, Fourth Marines, when he received this Purple Heart in 1968 following action close to the Ben Hai River on the border between North and South Vietnam.

The 41-cent Purple Heart stamp goes on sale nationally in August, 2007.


Txs, Dave/dblmed

The "Purple Heart" is one of those noble awards because they represent blood.