Purple Heart Hall of Honor opens

VAILS GATE — The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor opened last Friday with a mission to tell the stories of American troops wounded or killed in action. The state-run Hudson Valley attraction features a database that will allow visitors to search out facts and stories about Purple Heart recipients. Politicians and veterans who attended the opening ceremony said the hall shines a light on the sacrifices made by generations of men and women in uniform. “Visitors through the doors of the hall will experience an important part of our country’s heritage by learning about our veterans’ remarkable acts of courage,” Gov. George Pataki said. “The participation of our nation’s Purple Heart recipients and their families in sharing these stories will enable visitors today and generations ahead to understand and appreciate the valor shown by our veterans in protecting our great nation.” Workers have spent months trying to get information on as many of the estimated 1.7 million Purple Heart recipients as they could, relying on veterans groups and the media to spread the word. The hall has so far gathered information on 12,000 recipients from World War II to the current fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, with hundreds more coming in each week. Workers at the museum say there is a sense of urgency because the number of surviving veterans of World War II, during which 671,000 troops were wounded, is shrinking quickly. In many cases, relatives of dead recipients have provided the information, which ranges from telegrams and yellowed news clippings to digital photos from Iraq. The $6 million hall was built 50 miles north of New York City at the New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site, where George Washington’s army camped toward the end of the Revolutionary War. This is where Washington in 1782 created the Badge of Military Merit, an award for exceptional service that was the precursor of the Purple Heart. The award was reintroduced in 1932 as the Purple Heart, and was made available to veterans of past wars. In 1942, Purple Hearts were restricted to those “wounded in action against any enemy.”