ptsd Purple Heart For Ptsd

[judymb711]

Hi everyone. I am the daughter of a deceased WWI vet. I have been trying for 30 years to obtain the Purple Heart for injuries he sustained as a POW. I have been continually turned down because I cannot produce a doctors statement of injuries. Well, I don't think he was treated by a Nazi doctor. I have produced everything else, including witness statements, but no luck, in fact they told me not to bother to reapply. I thought I remembered reading that they had changed the criteria for awarding the medal to veterans with PTSD just this September, but I cannot find a definitive answer after 3 days of searching. I have a paper that states he was declared 30% disabled due to a "nervous condition" and I have a psychiatrist report that describes him post-war as being nervous, pacing, cannot be in a confined space, cannot ride in a car without driving himself, etc. Can anyone tell me if they did change the criteria to include PTSD for the Purple Heart or not?

[judymb711]

should warrant SC for major depression : -)

[halos2]

Judy, Are you sure you have all of his military records? His DD214 discharge papers too? When hurt is there any indication or written anywhere where he was bleeding? Parachuted and landed in a tree, you write, did he injure any part of his body that resulted in a bloody wound? Did a medic person ever treat him? Re request his records from the St Louis address, it was Page Ave but they just built a new one, and I haven't got the address here with me now...am about 145 miles from home. Perhaps another could give you the new address. Also you can request his medals from another address too. Keep searching, but written documents, especially from back then, would most likely be your best bet. They did not then nor now give Purple Hearts for PTSD, Shell Shock, Soldiers Heart, they called it many things but essentially refer to mental/psychological traumas/injuries, disabilities.

[judymb711]

Judy, Are you sure you have all of his military records? His DD214 discharge papers too? When hurt is there any indication or written anywhere where he was bleeding? Parachuted and landed in a tree, you write, did he injure any part of his body that resulted in a bloody wound? Did a medic person ever treat him? Re request his records from the St Louis address, it was Page Ave but they just built a new one, and I haven't got the address here with me now...am about 145 miles from home. Perhaps another could give you the new address. Also you can request his medals from another address too. Keep searching, but written documents, especially from back then, would most likely be your best bet. They did not then nor now give Purple Hearts for PTSD, Shell Shock, Soldiers Heart, they called it many things but essentially refer to mental/psychological traumas/injuries, disabilities.

halos2, I have every record there is. I have his medical records before he went overseas,, and I have a psychiatrist report from when he returned because his employer made him go to VA because he was nervous and pacing all the time. Those papers say that he had never been to a physician since he had been repatriated. My eye-witness statement says he suffered a blow to the head and injured his shoulders when his parachute hit a tree. You don't have to have bleed to receive the Purple Heart, and an injury is an injury as long as it is due to the enemy no matter how serious it is. There were no medical personnel in the field full of the enemy...this is the point I try to make clear when I apply. The recipient is supposed to have been treated by medical personnel at the scene. Common sense tells you if you land in a field in enemy territory, and they are waiting there to take you prisoner, the Red Cross isn't going ot have a first aid station set up for you to get examined for your injuries. It's so upsetting...he suffered that injury, he was hit in the back with a shovel by the Home Guard, he was beaten when interrogated, he was made to march from one stalag to another in sub-zero temperatures, and he was almost starved to death, came home with a "nervous condition" for which they deemed him 30% disabled, and then he dies a young man at the age of 49. He really lost his life as it was once he was taken prisoner. I just can't believe they deny him the Purple Heart for all he went through, especially when I can get so close to the hard proof...but cannot produce a medical statement because no Nazi captor happened to give him medical assistance and then make a record of it and send it back with him. Sorry to sound so frustrated but I am, and as I said, this is something I have been working on for 40 years.

[Papa]

Judy,

I'm sure your Congressperson and/or Senator would love to hear your story. I believe that is where you need to take it, and I would think the head and shoulder injury would be enough. JMHO Hope you are from Kentucky or Texas .

Papa

[judymb711]

Judy,

I'm sure your Congressperson and/or Senator would love to hear your story. I believe that is where you need to take it, and I would think the head and shoulder injury would be enough. JMHO Hope you are from Kentucky or Texas .

Papa

Papa, I am from Kentucky. I have had 2 congressmen work on my behalf. No go. I am reapplying, and how I am going about it this time is to take the rule that a prisoner of war injured during capture is eligible without a medical statement...the statement of a cellmate is all that is needed in that instance. Since he was captured immediately after his parachute landed, I think that you could say his injury happened during capture. Injury during a parachute landing is specifically addressed in the rules of eligibility and I have the eyewitness statement . I also remind them that the rules also state "Commanders must also take into consideration the circumstances surrounding the injury." We will see. I don't think I can take another denial. I promised my mother I would get this, and she died in 2009, and I am losing my eyesight and I want to see them pin that medal on his tunic. I am applying to HRC this time, hoping they might use more common sense.

[john999]

If your own government does it to you like Agent Orange, or friendly fire in a war zone you get no medals. You don't even get an apology. If you are lucky you get compensation.