Celebrating the history of the Purple Heart

Christian Peterson  reporter.riverbendnews@gmail.com Each year, Aug. 7 is set aside to honor Purple Heart Day; actually, the entire month is considered Purple Heart Month. Now, many may be wondering what a Purple Heart is and why we should celebrate it. It all started on Aug. 7, 1782, when General George Washington, Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, commissioned the first Purple Heart Medal - at the time, it was called the Badge of Military Merit. A Purple Heart is a United States medal given in the name of the president to those who were either wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917. Although the original medal, the Badge of Military Merit, was given o