National Purple Heart Recognition Day

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
SENATE
NATIONAL PURPLE HEART RECOGNITION DAY

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I am in support of S. Con. Res. 112 which supports the goals and ideals of National Purple Heart Recognition Day. This award was created by General George Washington, who established the Honorary Badge of Distinction in the figure of a heart in purple cloth or silk on August 7, 1782. Since that time, more than 1,535,000 Americans have received Purple Hearts, and their numbers are growing daily as the war in Iraq continues to take its toll.

Over 5,000 Americans have been wounded in Iraq, many of them suffering horrific injuries. One such American is SP Gabe Garriga, one of my constituents. Specialist Garriga volunteered for the Illinois National Guard right after September 11, when he was just 17 years old, because he felt obligated to go and make a difference.

In the summer of 2003, his unit was deployed to Iraq. On July 14, 2003, Specialist Garriga was rushing to help defend a checkpoint in Baghdad. The checkpoint had been breached by an Iraqi car that sped through without stopping, and U.S. soldiers feared that this was yet another suicide bomber. In the rush to defend the checkpoint, Garriga's Humvee slammed into another Humvee and he was thrown from his gun turret directly into burning fuel canisters.

The wounds this young man suffered were absolutely horrendous. He had second and third degree burns over almost half his body and severe abdominal injuries. Doctors gave him a 1 percent chance for survival, but he beat those daunting odds.

Specialist Garriga deserves everything this Nation can give him in return for his service and sacrifice and that includes a Purple Heart.

This award was reinstated in 1932, a century and a half after General Washington created his Badge of Military Merit. At that time, Army regulations defined the conditions for the award as "a wound which necessitates treatment by a medical officer and which is received in action with an enemy."

There is no doubt that Specialist Garriga's wound necessitated medical treatment-27 operations are blunt testimony to that terrible fact. And there is no doubt in my mind that Gabe was involved in action with an enemy when he and his comrades were rushing to defend that breached checkpoint in a time of war. Nonetheless, over a year later, he has still not received a Purple Heart.

Current Army regulations reiterate the conditions spelled out in 1932 and add "It is not intended that such a strict interpretation of the requirement for the wound or injury to be caused by direct result of hostile action be taken that it would preclude the award being made to deserving personnel."

Seeking to prevent a suicide bombing against U.S. troops or officials or against innocent Iraqi civilians is the act of a soldier engaged in the fight against terrorism. President Reagan, in fact, explicitly expanded the terms of the award to include those wounded or killed as the result "of an international terrorist attack."

So, this year, as the anniversary of the creation of this commendation approaches and as we vote to recognize this day, I also urge the Army to award Specialist Garriga the Purple Heart as a symbol of our recognition of his sacrifice in the war in Iraq. He has earned it.