For Military Merit; Recipients of the Purple Heart
Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2010. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. x, 351, [7] pages. Illustrations. Notes. Selected Bibliography. Index. Provides a short history of The Purple Heart and addresses the medal in terms of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, Civilians, Families, and Celebrities and Public Figures. Colonel Frederic L. Borch (born 1954) is a career United States Army attorney with a master's degree in national security studies, who served as chief prosecutor of the Guantanamo military commissions. He resigned his commission in August 2005. He worked for a time as a civilian consultant for the prosecution teams of the Guantanamo military commissions. In 2006 he was hired for the position of the first archive historian for the Judge Advocate General Corps. He was awarded a Fulbright fellowship for 2012–2013 to serve as a visiting professor at the University of Leiden, teaching issues in terrorism and counter-terrorism. In addition, he has been serving as President of the Orders and Medals Society of America since 2010 and he is an active contributor to its journal. Borch published a book on military decorations of the U.S. Army and Air Force in 2013. More than one million men and women have received the Purple Heart since its creation as an award "for military merit" in 1932. This book provides a brief history of the Purple Heart, with a focus on how the decoration's award criteria have evolved over the last 75 years. The book then takes a representative look at Purple Heart recipients from all the services by conflict, starting with the Civil War and concluding with the on-going conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, which took the form of a heart made of purple cloth, the Purple Heart is the oldest military award still given to U.S. military members. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York. The original Purple Heart, designated as the Badge of Military Merit, was established by George Washington – then the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army – by order from his Newburgh, New York headquarters on 7 August 1782. The Badge of Military Merit was only awarded to three Revolutionary War soldiers by Washington himself. Washington authorized his subordinate officers to issue Badges of Merit as appropriate. Although never abolished, the award of the badge was not proposed again officially until after World War I. On 7 January 1931, Summerall's successor, General Douglas MacArthur, confidentially reopened work on a new design, involving the Washington Commission of Fine Arts. Elizabeth Will, an Army heraldic specialist in the Office of the Quartermaster General, was named to redesign the newly revived medal, which became known as the Purple Heart. Using general specifications provided to her, Will created the design sketch for the present medal of the Purple Heart. The new design, which exhibits a bust and profile of George Washington, was issued on the bicentennial of Washington's birth. After the award was re-authorized in 1932 some U.S. Army wounded from conflicts prior to the First World War applied for, and were awarded, the Purple Heart: "...veterans of the Civil War and Indian Wars, as well as the Spanish–American War, China Relief Expedition (Boxer Rebellion), and Philippine Insurrection also were awarded the Purple Heart. This is because the original regulations governing the award of the Purple Heart, published by the Army in 1932, provided that any soldier who had been wounded in any conflict involving U.S. Army personnel might apply for the new medal. There were but two requirements: the applicant had to be alive at the time of application (no posthumous awards were permitted) and he had to prove that he had received a wound that necessitated treatment by a medical officer." Condition: Very good / Very good.
Keywords: Military Medal, Purple Heart, War Wounded, Medal Design, Award Criteria, Badge of Military Merit, Boxer Rebellion, Civil War, Indian Wars, China Relief Expedition, Philippine Insurrection, Terrorism, Douglas MacArthur, Peter Ortiz, Spanish-American W
ISBN: 9781591140863
[Book #85473]
Price: $50.00