Historians Hunt for Purple Heart Stories
VAILS GATE, N.Y. -- Cpl.
Robert Frink
was captured in Germany during the final months of World War II. He and
two comrades were forced to swap uniforms with their
Waffen
SS captors, lined up and shot in the back of the head.
Miraculously, the bullet
entered Frink's
neck and exited his cheek without shearing his spine or jugular vein. He
even felt a German kick him as he lay bleeding. "Believe me, I played
dead!" After his captors left,
Frink
fled, found some Canadian troops, and was saved.
The wound earned him a Purple Heart.
Sixty-one years later, it is earning him an entry on the "Roll of Honor,"
a database being compiled for a museum honoring Purple Heart recipients.
When the museum, the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor, opens in
November, visitors will be able to search out facts and stories about
soldiers wounded or killed. New York officials heading the project think
-- though no one knows for sure -- there are up to 1.7 million soldiers
who belong on the list.
So they're putting out a
call: If you or a family member has been awarded the Purple Heart, they
want you.
More precisely, they want your information for the most comprehensive list
of American military sacrifice.
"Somewhere, in every family tree, this is going to hit home," said state
Parks Commissioner Bernadette Castro.
The Hall of Honor is being built at a woodsy historic site north of New
York City where George Washington's army camped toward the end of the
Revolutionary War. It was here in 1782 that Washington created the Badge
of Military Merit, which he decreed would be "the figure of a heart in
purple cloth."
How many have been awarded, no one knows. Clark has heard of wounded World
War II soldiers told to simply grab one from a box. But a tally of the
wounded and dead from World War I on is about 1.7 million, most from World
War II.
It's impossible to find and verify every single award. But the modest
staff at the state historic site is trying. After quietly collecting
information for years, parks officials in March put out a widespread plea
for veterans and families to share stories and materials for hall. Clark
said about 5,000 responses have come in, everything from e-mails from Iraq
to packages with typed stories and sepia-tinged photos.
Ronald Vellner sent in a
tiny piece of metal shrapnel that pierced his right thigh in Korea.
Survivors of Frank Emberson sent in a small envelope stuffed with photos;
a corner of the envelope is frayed off where a bullet caromed off his
breast pocket into his arm during World War II.
The men and their stories will be included on the Roll of Honor. Clark
also is coaxing wounded veterans to tell their story in front of cameras
for the museum's exhibits and archives.
There's a sense of urgency because the number of surviving World War II
veterans is shrinking quickly. Ironically, members of that legendarily
stoic generation are providing a lot of the stories. Project workers think
older veterans realize it's finally time to talk.
Frink, for instance, barely
mentioned his near-miss execution in Germany since coming home to
California in 1945. Now 81, he still chokes up recalling how his two
comrades who were killed. He finally wrote down his story recently and
e-mailed it to a veterans' Web site.
"I've had a hard time grappling with this baggage I've been carrying
around all these years," Frink said.
"Years later, it still hurts."
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