Does anyone know of a way of tracing US service mens service history? I recently have aquired a Purple Heart along with lots of other documentation and photographs and would really like to know if I can find out why this person was awarded the medal?
the purple heart was awarded for being wounded in action. Also, in vietnam, they were handed out like sweeties
Purple Hearts? We got the Kings medal for being wounded. I have worn mine in my lapel for the last 60 years. Its me good luck charm...Must be...how ever else would a badly wounded old soldier reach the age of 80? Sapper
In WWI, George Smith Patton Jnr, the future general, got one for being shot in the rear end, which brought his involvement in the Meuse-Argonne offensive to an abrupt end. To be fair though it was a nasty wound. At the time he was a temporary Colonel commanding the American light tanks - actually made by Renault in France because there were no American light tanks available. If you want to read his version of events, get hold of The Patton Papers volume 1.
Originally posted by morse1001@Jun 1 2005, 02:28 PM the purple heart was awarded for being wounded in action. Also, in vietnam, they were handed out like sweeties [post=34955]Quoted post[/post] I pretty much guessed this - I suppose I was hoping they might be a bit like the Military Medal during WW1 where you can get the London Gazette and local papers reporting on them. Thanks anyway!
Originally posted by morse1001@Jun 1 2005, 02:28 PM the purple heart was awarded for being wounded in action. Also, in vietnam, they were handed out like sweeties [post=34955]Quoted post[/post] My Granddad was given the wound badge in the first world war for being injured during a gas attack. He wore it on his lapel for years after the war because of the rationing and depression. Shop keepers tended to give the wounded soldiers a little extra as they always felt that the soldiers had done a little extra! I certainly hope your lucky charm helps you for many many more years - wear it with pride you won it!
Originally posted by jojessholli@May 31 2005, 07:34 PM Does anyone know of a way of tracing US service mens service history? I recently have aquired a Purple Heart along with lots of other documentation and photographs and would really like to know if I can find out why this person was awarded the medal? [post=34933]Quoted post[/post] Unfortunately, unless the individual was written up for a gallantry award in a narrative which mentions his being wounded, it is almost impossible to track such awards. The purple heart was (is) , as others have said, issued for being wounded in action. However, its issuance was essentially an administrative action, and could have been done at a medical facility or at a unit. Announcements of PH were not normally made in a public forum (i.e. published in the papers), unlike gallantry awards (though they might have been published in local papers). Some awards of the PH were made many years after the injury occurred. There would have been/should have been orders cut, but these are not publically available unless you are related to the individual, in which case you could request a copy of his DD214 (discharge summary) and his entire military file, and even so it is unlikely that you would get more information than date and location of the injury. You could try to file a freedom of information act request with the Department of the Army, but this may or may not work. If you do decide to do the above, you need to send a letter to the Department of the Army at the Pentagon. It needs to be labelled "Freedom of Information Act Request", and must include the specific information you are looking for, e.g. "This individual (name, rank, serial number) was awarded a purple heart for wounds suffered in combat, and I request full details of this award, including date, place, award orders number, and if available a narrative summary...." This will certainly not get you his entire file, but could conceivably work. Also conceivably, they may simply say this is information which is private in nature and they won't release it anyway. A common (and probably true) response frequently seen is "That information is simply not present in any records available to us". Many military service records were destroyed in a big fire in the records center in the 1970s. If you have information on the individual concerned, I would suggest that the best way to proceed might be to find out what town he came from, and try to track down local newspapers of the period. A lot of small towns would publish articles about local boys in the service. Good luck. Doc
Try here first: http://www.archives.gov/research_room/vetrecs/ If you are a next of kin, or can find the next of kin and convine the mto sign a release, you can get the full service record of the vet. Even without next of kin, you can obtain a partial record for research purposes. I've used this process before, it is slow, but it works. Good hunting!
The Purple Heart is mainly issued for wounds receieved in combat or for death. However, in World war I, and in the first year or so of World War II, the Purple Heart on occasion was issued for bravery. If you notice on the back, it does say "For Military Merit."
