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PURPLE HEARTS AFTER GENERAL WASHINGTON


Blog Post 4 of 11



 The original honor badge created by General Washington would only be awarded three more times during the American Revolution.  The medallion was bestowed to Sergeants Daniel Bissell and William Brown of the Connecticut Regiment of the Continental line, and to Sergeant Elijah Churchill of the Connecticut Regiments’ Dragoons.  General Washington presented the Purple Hearts to them at his Headquarters in Newburgh, New York on May 3rd, 1783.  The medal would not be awarded again for another 200 years. Washington's original version of the Purple Heart is housed at the New Windsor Cantonment in New York, the site of the last encampment of the Continental Army during the American Revolution.  The award would not be recognized again until 1932.
General Charles Summerall proposed a bill to revive the medallion with a redesign composed of a circular medal disc with a concave center on which a raised heart was visible, on its obverse.  The reverse side of the medallion contains the words, "For Military Merit."  In 1931 Army Chief of Staff, General Douglas MacArthur, a successor to Summerall, resurrected his idea and on February 22, 1932, on the 200th anniversary of George Washington’s birth, U.S. War Department announced the establishment of the Purple Heart through General Order No. 3 which reads:

“By order of the President of the United States, the Purple Heart established by General George Washington at Newburgh, August 7, 1782 during the War of the Revolutions, is hereby revived out of respect to him memory and military achievements.”

On May 28th in 1932, 137 WWI Veterans were conferred their Purple Hearts at Temple Hill, in New Windsor, New York.  Temple Hill is now the site of the National Purple Heart Center which continues to honor those who earn the Purple Heart in their sacred halls of respect.  
The Purple Heart was originally awarded in the name of the President of the United States to any member of the Armed Forces of the United States while serving under competent authority in any capacity with one of the U.S. Armed Services after April 5, 1917 and who had been wounded, killed, or has died after being wounded, as well as for meritorious service above and beyond the call of duty.  Today, an estimated 1.8 million Purple Hearts have been awarded since the Revolutionary War.

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