The Villages Daily Sun: Day Honors Veterans With A Purple Heart
By Steve Straehley, Daily Sun Senior Writer
Aug 8, 2020
It’s a medal no one wants to earn. The Purple Heart, through its forerunner the Badge of Military Merit, is the oldest medal awarded to U.S. service members. It is earned by being wounded or killed in combat by the enemy. Gen. George Washington was the first to bestow the Badge of Military Merit on Aug. 7, 1782. Purple Heart Day is commemorated each year on that anniversary. It’s estimated that approximately 1.8 million Purple Hearts have been awarded, according to The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor. With more than 18,000 veterans in The Villages, it makes sense that there would be Purple Heart recipients. Their group, the Military Order of the Purple Heart Chapter 795, is led by Reggie Neely, of the Village of Piedmont.
“We’re unique among all veterans’ service organizations because our membership is composed of combat veterans who have shed blood on behalf of our country,” he said.
Neely, of course, is a Purple Heart recipient himself. In 1966, he was a Marine serving in a combined action group. Six Marines and a Navy corpsman fought alongside a platoon of South Vietnamese soldiers. Neely’s unit was positioned near the Ho Chi Minh Trail and tasked with stopping North Vietnamese supplies from reaching the south.