Purple Heart Ceremony

Today is Purple Heart Friday and the Heritage Museum had the honor of providing space for a Purple Heart Ceremony for:

Specialist Preston Haley

A U.S. Army veteran, was injured during a 2003 combat ambush in Iraq involving RPG and IED attacks, sustaining permanent hearing damage and later developing PTSD. He was medically evacuated to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in action. Despite this, missing and unverified records prevented proper recognition of his award. Senator Cornyn's office worked extensively with the Department of the Army and NPRC to obtain and confirm the necessary documentation, resulting in corrections to his military record (DD-215) and enabling the VA to properly recognize his Purple Heart.Along with the Purple Heart he will also be presented the Combat Action Badge (CAB), a United States military award given to soldiers of the U.S. Army of any rank and who are not members of an infantry, special forces, or medical MOS, for being "present and actively engaging or being engaged by the enemy, and performing satisfactorily in accordance with prescribed rules of engagement" at any point in time after 18 September 2001.