Purple Heart Medal, late type

The original medal is in almost perfect collectible condition. Bronze, enamel. The issue of the early 2000s. The fact is that in the spring of 1945, the United States was preparing an operation to invade Japan. President Truman has not yet made a decision about the atomic bombing, hesitating before a difficult moral choice: to kill several hundred thousand Japanese, including civilians, or send to death about the same number of his own American soldiers. It was then that several large enterprises received an order for the manufacture of half a million Purple Heart medals: the American army was preparing for colossal losses during the invasion of Japan. The invasion never took place, and the medals were used for another half century, since the total losses of the US Army in the following wars did not exceed five hundred thousand people. So the "Purple Hearts" minted in 1945 were then received by veterans of the Korean War, Vietnam, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and even Libya. Moreover, at some point the command decided to abandon any lavish ceremonies, so that the medals were simply awarded according to the lists of the dead and reports from military hospitals. In the late 1990s, the 1945 medals began to run out, as a result of which an additional order for their production was placed in various companies. The new awards were distinguished by simplified workmanship, spraying with gold paint instead of full-fledged gilding, and a new plastic case. Guarantee of authenticity.

The Purple Heart is a United States military medal awarded to all American servicemen who died or were injured as a result of enemy actions. The Purple Heart sign was installed by George Washington in 1782. Officially, only three such awards were awarded and it was no longer used until 1861. Initially, it was made simply of silk cloth, which was stretched over a silver heart-shaped bracket. In 1861, the U.S. Congress decided to establish the "Medal of Honor", which thus became the highest distinction in the country only because there were no orders in the United States. The medal was made of gold in the form of a five-pointed star with a trefoil at the ends of its rays. Because of this, the Purple Heart was in second place in importance. The modern Purple Heart Medal was created on February 22, 1932, by a directive signed by the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, Douglas MacArthur, in honor of the 200th anniversary of the birth of George Washington. It was stamped from tin covered with purple enamel. Until 1942, the Purple Heart was awarded only to members of the U.S. Army. At first, the award was made for military merit, and a combat wound was also regarded as merit. Since 1943, the medal has been awarded exclusively for combat wounds. After the war in Korea and Vietnam, the Purple Heart was given to every seriously wounded person without much ceremony, just according to the appropriate hospital lists.