The Purple Heart, the oldest American military decoration for military merit, is awarded to members of the U.S. armed forces for meritorious or valorous service in action against our enemies.
The Purple Heart has a long and storied history. It traces its lineage back to the Badge of Merit which was established by George Washington on August 7, 1782. The original badge featured a cloth purple heart.
With supplies scarce, constant battle and movement, and low pay, Washington needed something to boost the morale of the Continental Army. He knew that awards and medals were rarely awarded to noncommissioned officers and ordinary soldiers. His solution? He created the Badge of Military Merit to honor valor and meritorious service.
During the Revolutionary War, Washington awarded only three Badges of Military Merit. After the war, the badge was forgotten for nearly 150 years, until America joined our European allies in the fight to defeat Germany and its allies in 1917.
As World War I dragged on, an unofficial hierarchy of valor and merit medals began to take shape. At that point, the only American award that could be earned by soldiers and officers was the Medal of Honor.
Congress soon created the Distinguished Service Cross and the Distinguished Service Medal for meritorious examples of courage and personal sacrifice during the war.
In 1932, US Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur ordered that the old Badge of Military Merit should be renamed the Purple Heart. MacArthur issued General Order No. 3 on February 22, 1932, declaring that the Purple Heart would be awarded for meritorious or valorous service in the US Army. The Purple Heart was also awarded to prisoners of war who were mistreated by the enemy.
Many Cheboygan soldiers, sailors and airmen have been awarded Purple Hearts since the medal was resurrected. In today’s column, I list some of the veterans who were awarded Purple Hearts for actions during World War II. I will cover more WWII veterans in next week’s column and hope to discover more honorees from other wars and actions.
If you or a loved one received a Purple Heart from any branch of service, please let me know. Also, if you have stories of heroism in your family, please share them so I can include them in a future column.
In the list below, I identify individual townships. For the city of Cheboygan, I include it on the first reference only. For subsequent references, I don’t repeat it.
- Cpl. Earl Allaire, Army, Aloha Township
- Seaman Charles Allen, Navy
- Cpl. Wallace Ayotte, Navy
- Pfc. Merton Baier, Marine Corps, Cheboygan
- Pfc. Cecil Baker, Aloha
- Pfc. Ralph Bancroft, Army
- Sgt. Adolf B. Barrette, Army, Inverness Township
- Pvt. Edward Bellenger, Army
- Sgt. Calvin Berden, Army, Alverno
- Pvt. Albert Bergstrom, Army, Benton Township
- Richard Clayton Bills, Army, Onaway and Cheboygan
- Pfc. Harold Boyke, Army
- Pfc. Ralph Bradstrom, Army
- Pvt. Loyde Bruff, Army
- Pvt. Carl Charboneau, Army, Inverness
- Ralph Chasse, Army
- Sgt. Bernard Clark, Army
- Pfc. Edward Clark, Marine Corps
- Woodrow Couture, Benton
- Pfc. Carl Craddit, Navy, Wolverin
- Sgt. Otto Curave
- Sgt. John Derry, Army
- Lt. Robert Digby, Army Air Corps, Topinabee
- Harold Dixon, Aloha
- Samuel Edward Dodge
- Pfc. Raymond Douglas, Army, Hebron Township
- Pfc. Clyde Dunham, Army, Mullett Township
- Sgt./Seaman Joseph Eno, Army and Navy
- Sgt. Joseph Fleury. Army
- James Gardiner, Indian River
- Donald Gardiner, Army, Indian River
- Pfc. William Gauthier, Army
- Sgt. Robert Gouin, Army, three Purple Hearts
- Pfc. Edward Ginop, Army
- Cpl. Benjamin Greenless, Army
- Pfc. Harold Hill
- Sgt. Robert Hiller, Army
- Cpl. George Hinkley, Army
- Robert Louis Wilton, Marine Corps, Forest Township
- Lt. Richard Howard, Army
To be continued.