The Department of Defense has announced a new policy regarding the awarding of the Purple Heart. In the past it was only given to service members "wounded by enemy action". It was not given to those service members who died while being held as prisoners of war; there would have to have been proof "they had been wounded or killed by the enemy". The new policy now holds that any death while in captivity is "the result of enemy action". This policy will be retroactive to Dec 7th, 1941 and will effect 17,000 deceased US POW's.
(Source: "Thousands of deceased POW's could receive purple hearts" by the AP. Reported in The Virginian Pilot on October 7, 2008)
No comments:
Post a Comment