SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --
More than 70 local Purple Heart recipients were joined by family,
friends, service members and volunteers to recognize their contributions and
sacrifices to our nation at a banquet held in their honor, Aug. 5, 2016, at the
First Pentecostal Holiness Church in Goldsboro, North Carolina.
The annual event honors veterans from Eastern North Carolina
who have received the Purple Heart, representing every major conflict since
World War II.
Charlie Thomas, a combat veteran was honored at the banquet
for his service during the Vietnam conflict.
“I received the medal in 1969; I got shot,” said Thomas. “I
was just fighting for the country, and I got wounded. It’s an honor what [the Purple
Heart Dinner committee] is doing for us.”
The Purple Heart Medal, originally established on Aug. 7,
1782 by former President and Gen. George Washington as a badge of merit. Today,
it is awarded to any member of the Armed Forces who is wounded or killed while
serving in support of contingency operations.
“Since the very first [banquet], the impact has always been
great for the community,” said Bill Graham, Wayne County Veterans and Patriots
Coalition president. “It grows each year, and this, by far, is probably the
largest one we’ve had. People keep calling and saying, ‘I want to get in. I
want to be a part of it.’ ”
Before the dinner began, the Purple Heart recipients participated
in a walk of honor through a saber cordon and received a gift bag containing a
veteran hat, a mug and several other items as mementos of the event. For the
recipients who could not join because they were prisoners of war or killed in
action, a rose and gift bag was given to a family member who represented them.
A medley of each branch of service’s song was sung to honor
the military members, who were invited to join in song, during the event.
“The names of all of our recipients are in
here,” said Ilario Pantano, Programs and Services Institute for Veterans and
Military Families senior director. “The names of the families that have
sacrificed either POWs or fathers or husbands or sons lost as gold stars, as
heroes. Can we just reflect on them? That’s why we’re here tonight: to reflect
on them.”