Everybody if you came into the study of our house, you would see something right below my Tulane diploma. It says Purple Heart on it. If you look at it carefully you will see that it is personally signed by a US Navy admiral. You get one of those for being wounded in time of war. (By the way it took me 36 years and some bureaucratic hassles to get it properly awarded.)
I went to Ancestry.com to research the military history of my mother's and father's families. In the case of my mother's family we have war heroes going back as far as the French and Indian Wars of the 1750's. Some brave men gave their lives over the centuries. After the Civil War I could find no history of any family members being killed in the Spanish/American War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Granada, Iraq, Afghanistan,etc.
There was one published report that my late Uncle Charles D. Walters was wounded in the US Marine Corps in 1944. He never told me this so it might be an error. (The same report listed his religion as Jewish, by the way.)
The only two true Purple Heart winners are my late Uncle B.J. Walters and me. We both had small shrapnel wounds. Uncle B.J. modestly told me that he was wounded by shrapnel by standing in line to get some USO donuts.
To all of you who stood up and swore allegiance to the US constitution, put on the uniform, left the warmth and the comforts of your family and homes; this is a day of special thanks
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