The Purple Heart

The Purple Heart

(EXCERPT) Peninsula veterans are among, by Susan Young, STAFF WRITER

AFTER intense combat during the month-long Meuse-Argonne offensive in
France -- the biggest operation and final battle of World War I -- the
German surrender took effect at 11 a.m. Nov. 11, 1918.

But not before the 24 days of battle resulted in 244 officers and
7,168 men being killed or wounded, including my grandfather, Sgt.
Robert T. Dean. Two of his comrades locked in battle beside him lost
their lives.

Dean walked away with shrapnel wounds in his left hand, a hand he
would often show his children years later, still scarred by the
embedded metal. Nasty mementos of a war in which 116,000 Americans
were killed and 204,000 were wounded in just a little more than a year
of the United States entering the war.

Nov. 11 was designated Armistice Day in honor of the armistice that
ended the war. The day's name was later changed to Veterans Day.

Many veterans wounded in service, like my grandfather, were awarded
the Purple Heart -- America's oldest military decoration in present
use and the first American award given to all soldiers regardless of
rank.

Thousands in the Bay Area have earned Purple Hearts. Interstate 580
near the Bay Bridge is even designated as a Purple Heart trail.

The entire Interstate 80 route in California has been submitted to be
part of the National Purple Heart Trail. The Military Order of the
Purple Heart is working to establish a national commemorative trail
for recipients of the medal. All states will designate highways for
inclusion in the commemorative trail, connecting the nation together
in memory of those who served.

The honor was created in 1782 by George Washington to recognize
battlefield heroes. Lost or misfiled for nearly 150 years among War
Department

records in Washington, D.C., the existence of the medal came to light
during the search for Washington's papers before t...

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Otis Willie
Associate Librarian
The American War Library
http://www.americanwarlibrary.com