[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16990]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       AWARDING THE PURPLE HEART

  (Ms. PINGREE of Maine asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Mr. Speaker, a recent investigation has found 
that the Department of Defense has been denying Purple Heart medals for 
soldiers and marines who were injured by IEDs in Iraq. Some of these 
awards were denied because the injured troops received only ``minimal 
medical attention.''
  Mr. Speaker, if you are serving our country and you are injured by 
the enemy, you are entitled to a Purple Heart, period. It is not 
something subject to interpretation by a Pentagon bureaucrat. It is not 
something that can or should be denied based on small print or 
technicalities. It is utterly outrageous that veterans who continue to 
pay for this sacrifice with lasting effects of brain trauma are being 
denied this recognition because they don't have the ``right'' kind of 
injury. These men and women are defending our country, and when they 
suffer an injury at the hands of the enemy, we owe them. We owe them 
appropriate recognition in the form of a Purple Heart.

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