Purple Heart

Army Reserve Sergeant William Curran, 26, knew he was in trouble when the Humvee he was driving in Iraq was hit by an improvised explosive device. But when a second IED hit his squad as it tried to secure an area in the eastern part of Baghdad on Aug. 28, 2008, things became even worse. “Obviously it was a chaotic situation,’’ said Curran, a Shrewsbury resident and reservist with the 344th Military Police Company based in Worcester. “When the second one hit … the mission changed from securing the area to getting evacuated as quickly as possible.’’ The episode claimed the life of...

Sharon is considering naming a park in town center after Army First Sergeant James A. Keating, a Sharon native who earned a Silver Star and Purple Heart and died in battle during World War II. Reading from a presidential citation, Deputy Police Chief J.J. McGrath said Keating dragged a wounded man into a foxhole in France, provided cover fire to men removing the wounded man, and was shot in the shoulder. Keating continued to fire to cover the evacuation until he was struck by fire from a machine gun, McGrath said.

A Purple Heart is being given to the family of a World War I Coast Guardsman in New Castle, N.H. The family of Fred Wyman is receiving the Purple Heart Friday from Sen. Kelly Ayotte. Wyman was a crewman aboard the USS Tampa when it was hit and sunk by a German U-boat on Sept. 26, 1918. Killed were 111 Coast Guardsmen, four U.S. Navy men, a captain of the British Army, 10 seamen of the Royal Navy and five civilian employee dock workers. It was believed to be the largest loss due to enemy action suffered by U.S. Naval Forces during the war.

LEXINGTON - Connie Hadley Bachman's phone rang recently, and a stranger started speaking about something that has made the 84-year-old's heart ache for decades. The caller spoke of Bachman's younger brother, an Air Force pilot who died in combat in North Korea in 1951. The man on the phone was Vermont Army National Guard Captain Zachariah Fike, saying he had a Purple Heart that belonged to her brother, First Lieutenant Thomas E. Hadley II. A Pennsylvania family had had the medal since at least 1967, Fike told Bachman, but it was unclear how the family ended up with...

Nearly 70 years after F. Patricia Murphy last saw her only brother, she accepted a top military honor remembering his World War II sacrifice. Murphy, who is 88, moved from their family home before her brother, James W. Gilbert, enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1941. After the Dec. 7, 1941, attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor that drew the United States into the war, Gilbert was sent to the Philippines, where he was captured by the Japanese. He died at a prison camp in 1942 at age 24. On Saturday, Murphy accepted a Purple Heart medal on his behalf.

A Vietnam veteran has received a Purple Heart over 40 years after he was wounded in combat. John O'Brien of Orford served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He was wounded twice in 1969. He was treated in the field for a leg injury that November and returned to his unit. On Christmas Eve, he was hit in the head and was taken to a hospital. O'Brien said he was given his first Purple Heart through the mail for his first wound, but he never received his second medal. He told WMUR-TV (http://bit.ly/u2vDn5)

LEXINGTON - Connie Hadley Bachman's phone rang recently, and a stranger started speaking about something that has made the 84-year-old's heart ache for decades. The caller spoke of Bachman's younger brother, an Air Force pilot who died in combat in North Korea in 1951. The man on the phone was Vermont Army National Guard Captain Zachariah Fike, saying he had a Purple Heart that belonged to her brother, First Lieutenant Thomas E. Hadley II. A Pennsylvania family had had the medal since at least 1967, Fike told Bachman, but it was unclear how the family...

CONCORD, N.H. — Jennie Laleme remembers how handsome her older brother was and how much he loved to sing, especially the old cowboy classic “Mule Train.’’ Herbert Hesseltine of Littleton — everyone called him “Herbie’’ — joined the Army and fought in the Korean War. On her 11th birthday, Nov. 30, 1950, Laleme had just come home from skating when she learned that he had been taken captive and was in a POW camp. “It was the first time I saw my father cry and I’ll never forget it,’’ said Laleme, now of Landaff.

NEW YORK - James T. Newman, a Vietnam War helicopter pilot whose rescues of downed airmen earned him the Distinguished Service Cross, died Jan. 11 at the University of North Carolina medical center in Chapel Hill of complications associated with lung cancer. He was 73. In addition to the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation's second-highest award for combat valor, Mr. Newman received the Silver Star, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and 23 Air Medals, among others.

Sharon is considering naming a park in town center after Army First Sergeant James A. Keating, a Sharon native who earned a Silver Star and Purple Heart and died in battle during World War II. Reading from a presidential citation, Deputy Police Chief J.J. McGrath said Keating dragged a wounded man into a foxhole in France, provided cover fire to men removing the wounded man, and was shot in the shoulder. Keating continued to fire to cover the evacuation until he was struck by fire from a machine gun, McGrath said.

FOXBOROUGH - Tim Tebow was wearing a purple shirt and a purple tie as he came into the interview room last night. All he was missing was a Purple Heart. The man who gave a new name to genuflection this season and had much of the planet emulating or mocking him, took a thorough beating from the Patriots - on the scoreboard, on the stat sheet, and on the field. But he was determined to finish the game and give thanks to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when it was done. "I pray before games, during games, and after games," the Broncos quarterback said after New England's defenders had...

A Purple Heart is being given to the family of a World War I Coast Guardsman in New Castle, N.H. The family of Fred Wyman is receiving the Purple Heart Friday from Sen. Kelly Ayotte. Wyman was a crewman aboard the USS Tampa when it was hit and sunk by a German U-boat on Sept. 26, 1918. Killed were 111 Coast Guardsmen, four U.S. Navy men, a captain of the British Army, 10 seamen of the Royal Navy and five civilian employee dock workers. It was believed to be the largest loss due to enemy action suffered by U.S. Naval Forces during the war.

The former adjutant of the Military Order of the Purple Heart and nine other veterans are being inducted into the Connecticut Veterans Hall of Fame. Burke Ross of Shelton, a Marine in World War II, was among the leaders in an effort to have a stamp issued in honor of the order The group is composed of military personnel injured in combat. Ross is among 10 veterans who will be inducted Friday afternoon during a ceremony at the Legislative Office Building. The others are Madelon Baranoski and Ronald Perry, both of Meriden; Samuel Beamon Sr. and John Chiarella, both of Waterbury;...

A Vietnam veteran has received a Purple Heart over 40 years after he was wounded in combat. John O'Brien of Orford served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He was wounded twice in 1969. He was treated in the field for a leg injury that November and returned to his unit. On Christmas Eve, he was hit in the head and was taken to a hospital. O'Brien said he was given his first Purple Heart through the mail for his first wound, but he never received his second medal. He told WMUR-TV (http://bit.ly/u2vDn5)

Francisco Urena, a Marine who earned a Purple Heart when he was injured in the Iraq war, was named Boston's new Commissioner of Veterans Services yesterday. Since 2007, Urena has directed veteran services in Lawrence. In Boston, he will take over a department that pays out approximately $3.8 million a year in benefits to more than 700 veterans. Urena will receive an annual salary of $85,000. In a press release yesterday, Mayor Thomas M. Menino said Urena was, "uniquely suited to lead this department as we continue to adapt and evaluate how we can best support our...

(Photo credit: Matt Bennett/Governor's Office) Governor Patrick signs an act designating Bridge Street Bypass Road in the City of Salem as Sergeant James Ayube Memorial Drive. By Stewart Bishop, Town Correspondent In a ceremony at the State House on Wednesday,  Governor Deval Patrick signed  legislation that named Bridge Street Bypass Road in Salem as Sergeant James Ayube Memorial Drive, in honor of the Salem soldier who was killed last December in Afghanistan.

The former adjutant of the Military Order of the Purple Heart and nine other veterans are being inducted into the Connecticut Veterans Hall of Fame. Burke Ross of Shelton, a Marine in World War II, was among the leaders in an effort to have a stamp issued in honor of the order The group is composed of military personnel injured in combat. Ross is among 10 veterans who will be inducted Friday afternoon during a ceremony at the Legislative Office Building. The others are Madelon Baranoski and Ronald Perry, both of Meriden; Samuel Beamon Sr. and John Chiarella, both of Waterbury;...

Francisco Urena, a Marine who earned a Purple Heart when he was injured in the Iraq war, was named Boston's new Commissioner of Veterans Services yesterday. Since 2007, Urena has directed veteran services in Lawrence. In Boston, he will take over a department that pays out approximately $3.8 million a year in benefits to more than 700 veterans. Urena will receive an annual salary of $85,000. In a press release yesterday, Mayor Thomas M. Menino said Urena was, "uniquely suited to lead this department as we continue to adapt and evaluate how we can best support our young veterans and...

Army Reserve Sergeant William Curran, 26, knew he was in trouble when the Humvee he was driving in Iraq was hit by an improvised explosive device. But when a second IED hit his squad as it tried to secure an area in the eastern part of Baghdad on Aug. 28, 2008, things became even worse. “Obviously it was a chaotic situation,’’ said Curran, a Shrewsbury resident and reservist with the 344th Military Police Company based in Worcester. “When the second one hit … the mission changed from securing the area to getting evacuated as quickly as possible.’’ The episode claimed the life of...

After an explosive device ripped through his Humvee in Fallujah, Iraq, five years ago, Sergeant Terrence “Shane’’ Burke lost half his left leg and barely escaped with his life. Yesterday, the 33-year-old Marine stood before the crowd at Dorchester’s annual Memorial Day ceremony in Cedar Grove Cemetery as a man who not only survived his injuries but has thrived despite them. Burke was an ambitious Boston police officer and avid runner when he went off to war. He is now a crime scene technician for the department.