A Navy Corpsman Receives A Purple Heart. He Didn't Think He Deserved It

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/04/ [login to see] /purple-heart-to-navy-corpsman-wounded-in-afghanistan
More than 11 years after a bullet grazed by his head in Afghanistan, destroying his eardrum and singing the side of his face, Joe Hardebeck has been awarded the Purple Heart.

But for a long time, the 33-year-old senior Navy corpsman's pride stood in the way. He hadn't really been shot or lost a limb. Hardebeck didn't believe he had been wounded badly enough to deserve the military's oldest award.

Hardebeck is currently serving with the 1st Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, an artillery unit at Camp Pendleton in Southern California. But his injuries for which he is being recognized took place in the spring of 2010 in Marjah, Afghanistan — one of the most dangerous cities in the country at the time.