WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is recognizing nearly 100 recipients of the Purple Heart at the White House on Thursday, including several service members who gave him their own medals after an attempt on his life at a Pennsylvania campaign rally.
Three men who sent Trump their medals after the 2024 shooting in Butler are expected to attend the event in the East Room to mark National Purple Heart Day, according to a White House official.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are also expected to be there, along with Chris LaCivita, Trump’s former campaign co-manager and a Marine veteran who is also a Purple Heart recipient.
After a shooter’s bullet pierced the upper part of Trump’s right ear in Butler just days before the 2024 Republican National Convention, the then-Republican presidential candidate was gifted medals from some Purple Heart recipients. The medals were presented to him at campaign events during the race’s closing months.
According to the White House, some of those Purple Heart recipients were brought to Trump’s campaign stops so that he could return their medals to them.
National Purple Heart Day is marked annually on Aug. 7.
The Purple Heart, the oldest military award still in use and is awarded to service members who are killed or wounded while engaging in enemy action or resulting from acts of terrorism. According to the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor, more than 1.8 million medals have been presented since the award’s inception in 1782.
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