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Revocation of medals adds insult to injuries
Eleven Marines shamed by Purple Heart incident
The story of Marine Staff Sgt. Robert Arellano's wound is not exactly heroic. He was sitting in a tent in southern Iraq when the 9mm handgun he was repairing went off, sending a bullet through his left leg.
That's why his heart sank in spring 2003, when he heard that he would receive the Purple Heart as he recovered at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.
Protests to superior officers were brushed aside.
"I told them I didn't think I deserved it," said Arellano, 38, of Oceanside, Calif. The thought of wearing a medal he didn't earn "was eating me alive."
Then a letter arrived two months ago making things even worse. The Purple Heart pinned on him nearly two years earlier had been "an administrative error" because his wound was not "caused directly or indirectly by enemy action." Ten other Marines who sustained noncombat injuries got the same news, from the office of the commandant of the Marine Corps.
'Slap in the face'
For a branch of the service that considers itself the most rigorous in the awarding of medals, such revocations are exceptionally rare, according to military historians and veterans. And for the 11 Marines, this was a final indignity added to the shattered bones, crushed intestines and broken teeth they suffered in a war zone.
Even worse, they said, in a culture in which careers are chronicled by decorations on uniforms, was the shame they felt at having worn the medals for almost two years.
"It was a slap in the face. The way it was handled was atrocious," said 1st Lt. Dustin Ferrell, who was badly injured when his Humvee crashed into an Army truck. Gen. William Nyland, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, pinned the medal on his green hospital gown at the Bethesda medical center.
The Purple Heart, based on an award created by George Washington, is bestowed much more frequently than medals such as the Silver and Bronze stars, which are given for exceptional acts of heroism and are based on nominations. Purple Hearts are awarded to those who meet guidelines for having sustained injuries related to combat with enemy forces.
Rush to honor first casualties
Still, Cpl. Travis Eichelberger, 22, was featured on the local news and it seemed like everyone in his home town of Atchison, Kan., knew he had been awarded the medal. He even received the state-issued Purple Heart license plate when he bought his new GMC truck in 2003.
"When you wear it, people look at you and give you respect," said Eichelberger, still recovering from a broken pelvis and intestinal damage from being run over by an Abrams tank. "And now it's been taken away from us. What are we supposed to tell people? If they don't know the story, it makes us look as if we were lying."
The mistake grew out of confusion over the circumstances of the injuries, specifically the difference between wounds sustained in a combat zone and those caused by hostile action, said Charles Mugno, head of the Marine Corps Awards Branch. The injured Marines were among the first wave of casualties to return from Iraq, he said, and there was a rush to honor them.
Ferrell was injured in the first days of the war when his Humvee, racing through the desert at night to secure a bridge in Nasiriyah, crashed into an Army truck. The driver was killed and two others were severely injured.
Eleven Marines shamed by Purple Heart incident
The story of Marine Staff Sgt. Robert Arellano's wound is not exactly heroic. He was sitting in a tent in southern Iraq when the 9mm handgun he was repairing went off, sending a bullet through his left leg.
That's why his heart sank in spring 2003, when he heard that he would receive the Purple Heart as he recovered at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.
Protests to superior officers were brushed aside.
"I told them I didn't think I deserved it," said Arellano, 38, of Oceanside, Calif. The thought of wearing a medal he didn't earn "was eating me alive."
Then a letter arrived two months ago making things even worse. The Purple Heart pinned on him nearly two years earlier had been "an administrative error" because his wound was not "caused directly or indirectly by enemy action." Ten other Marines who sustained noncombat injuries got the same news, from the office of the commandant of the Marine Corps.
'Slap in the face'
For a branch of the service that considers itself the most rigorous in the awarding of medals, such revocations are exceptionally rare, according to military historians and veterans. And for the 11 Marines, this was a final indignity added to the shattered bones, crushed intestines and broken teeth they suffered in a war zone.
Even worse, they said, in a culture in which careers are chronicled by decorations on uniforms, was the shame they felt at having worn the medals for almost two years.
"It was a slap in the face. The way it was handled was atrocious," said 1st Lt. Dustin Ferrell, who was badly injured when his Humvee crashed into an Army truck. Gen. William Nyland, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, pinned the medal on his green hospital gown at the Bethesda medical center.
The Purple Heart, based on an award created by George Washington, is bestowed much more frequently than medals such as the Silver and Bronze stars, which are given for exceptional acts of heroism and are based on nominations. Purple Hearts are awarded to those who meet guidelines for having sustained injuries related to combat with enemy forces.
Rush to honor first casualties
Still, Cpl. Travis Eichelberger, 22, was featured on the local news and it seemed like everyone in his home town of Atchison, Kan., knew he had been awarded the medal. He even received the state-issued Purple Heart license plate when he bought his new GMC truck in 2003.
"When you wear it, people look at you and give you respect," said Eichelberger, still recovering from a broken pelvis and intestinal damage from being run over by an Abrams tank. "And now it's been taken away from us. What are we supposed to tell people? If they don't know the story, it makes us look as if we were lying."
The mistake grew out of confusion over the circumstances of the injuries, specifically the difference between wounds sustained in a combat zone and those caused by hostile action, said Charles Mugno, head of the Marine Corps Awards Branch. The injured Marines were among the first wave of casualties to return from Iraq, he said, and there was a rush to honor them.
Ferrell was injured in the first days of the war when his Humvee, racing through the desert at night to secure a bridge in Nasiriyah, crashed into an Army truck. The driver was killed and two others were severely injured.
