Criteria for Purple Heart Medal Changed (1 Viewer)

DMNamiot

DMNamiot

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Hi All,

I found this information today and thought there might be some folks here who may have had a realtive fall into this situation.

All the best

Dave


WASHINGTON - An estimated 17,000 deceased U.S. prisoners of war could be awarded Purple Hearts under a new Defense Department policy announced Oct. 6.

Purple Hearts are awarded to Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines wounded by enemy action. The medals have been denied in the past to POWs who died in captivity if it could not be proven they had been wounded or killed by the enemy.

The revised policy the Pentagon announced presumes such deaths were the result of enemy action unless compelling evidence is presented to the contrary.

The new policy is retroactive to Dec. 7, 1941, the Defense Department said in a statement. That is the day Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and brought the United States into World War II.

Posthumous awards can be made to a family member or other representative of the deceased service member. Each branch of the military will announce its process for applying for the awards.

Congress had requested that the Pentagon review its Purple Heart policy.
 
What can be awarded to a surviving family member?

I thought that upon the passing of a veteran, any and all medals awarded had to be given back to the government. I think it was to stop the trading of these medals on the secondary market.

It is right and just, yes, but what is given to the family except for the further acknowledgement?
 
Medals do not have to be returned, and are not to be sold.

Preexisting federal law, Title 18, already forbids the sales of all medals.
"Whoever knowingly wears, purchases. mails, ships, imports, exports .or
sells.any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the armed forces of
the United States.except when authorized under regulations made pursuant to
law, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months
or both."
 
When did title 18 go into effect? I am not familiar with any of this except for someone I knew who dealt in military collectibles - some being medals.
 
I think that law has been on the books for a long time, but I don't think it's strongly enforced, eg, I don't think the Justice Departmen devotes any resources specifically to tracking down people selling US medals.

Prost!
Brad
 
Hi Guys,

The only Medal I know that they watch is the Medal of Honor. They dont not like it when one of those is sold.

I will see if I can find some further information on this for you all.

All the best

Dave
 
Gideon said:
When did title 18 go into effect? I am not familiar with any of this except for someone I knew who dealt in military collectibles - some being medals.
Click to expand...

Gideon:

President Bush signed the Stolen Valor Act in December of 2007.

The Stolen Valor Act amended Title 18 to increase the penalty for violations
that involve valor medals such as the Purple Heart as well as the Medal of
Honor (often called the Congressional Medal of Honor), which have always
been protected and illegal to sell.

The argument that these laws are not enforced, is valid, and a common
problem. Often we simply make another law, rather then enforce existing
ones.

America has truely lost its way, and I am sad.:(
 
I knew about the MoH - remember one was briefly on eBay and it was pulled very quickly? I think this may have been the inspration for the 2007 bill.

I remember seeing medals on eBay years ago - very readily available.

I never had a problem with people collecting medals - any of them. Value was based on all the usual factors but a name and description of how the medal was earned was a major part of the value.

In my mind, this kept the individual acts of selfless people in the open consciousness rather than kept in a family and in military records few look at.

Just my opinion.
 
Gideon said:
I knew about the MoH - remember one was briefly on eBay and it was pulled very quickly? I think this may have been the inspration for the 2007 bill.

I remember seeing medals on eBay years ago - very readily available.

I never had a problem with people collecting medals - any of them. Value was based on all the usual factors but a name and description of how the medal was earned was a major part of the value.

In my mind, this kept the individual acts of selfless people in the open consciousness rather than kept in a family and in military records few look at.

Just my opinion.
Click to expand...

I agree, I can see military collectors having an interest, but there have been

cases of people passing themselves off as medal winners, and that should not

be allowed.

So I fully understand the law, once again the actions of a few hurt the

manny.
 
About a year ago there was a guy in the St louis area poseing as a Marine and wearing various medals to functions. He was arrested and convicted and I believe he actually got jail time.
Gary
 
One of the most outrageous cases here in Oz was a Wing Commander in the Air Cadets who claimed to have the following medals (note most are US) :

Distinguished Service Medal,
Legion of Merit,
Soldiers Medal,
Bronze Star,
Meritorious Service Medal,
Air Medal,
Army Commendation Medal,
Air Force Commendation Medal
Army Achievement Medal,
Good Conduct Medal,
National Defence Service Medal
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal,
Southwest Asia Service Medal,
Armed Forces Reserves Medal,
UN Medal
Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi),
Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait) or Multi Force and Observers medal.

He wore the miniatures at a formal event and not surprisingly it was noticed.
To see his medal set look at www.anzmi.net/bain/bain.html where he and others are "outed". He was only fined A$1,500.
That site also has links to similar US sites. Some are very interesting cases.
Regards
Brett
 
gk5717 said:
About a year ago there was a guy in the St louis area poseing as a Marine and wearing various medals to functions. He was arrested and convicted and I believe he actually got jail time.
Gary
Click to expand...

Yes, there was a guy here in PA who did the same thing, I think that was back around 2003 or 2004. I think he may even have been running for office. I'll have to look for the new story and link it, if I can find it.

Of course, the issues of selling medals, and of impersonating a decorated veteran, overlap, but they don't coincide. That is, we have laws to regulate selling decorations, and certainly, we want to prevent unscrupulous people from buying and using them that way, but there are also legitimate reasons to buy and sell decorations. And there are separate laws covering impersonations. I think it's a point to consider, that we need to recognize this and separate the two, when we discuss the topic of selling medals.

Prost!
Brad
 
Selling medals and impersonating a decorated veteran do overlap but to me the latter is more offensive.

On a related medal issue. there was an article I saw recently about researching who's who references to decorations. A high percentage of people in who's who falsely claimed military decorations including politicians , judges , teachers and Law enforcement officers. Makes you wonder where this country is going or perhaps has gone....................
 
I think these members who died not giving into the enemy in living H*lls do deserve some sort of recognition. I think there needs to be guidelines, but the bravery to withstand torture must take the most amazing courage.

Vick
 
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