Posted on Feb 21, 2015
Are New Purple Hearts Being Manufactured to Meet the Demand?
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Purple Hearts stockpile
So I learned a very interesting tidbit the other day. Apparently the purple hearts being awarded today are from a stockpile in anticipation of attacking the mainland of Japan during WWII in 1945. I am surprised I have never learned this before. I think this is an amazing link to our past.
I have attached a link (most recent I could find) concerning some of the finer details, but I was curious if anyone else knew any details on this or even any other interesting nuggets that may be out there.
So I learned a very interesting tidbit the other day. Apparently the purple hearts being awarded today are from a stockpile in anticipation of attacking the mainland of Japan during WWII in 1945. I am surprised I have never learned this before. I think this is an amazing link to our past.
I have attached a link (most recent I could find) concerning some of the finer details, but I was curious if anyone else knew any details on this or even any other interesting nuggets that may be out there.
Are New Purple Hearts Being Manufactured to Meet the Demand?
Posted from historynewsnetwork.org
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 8
Posted 10 y ago
Cpl Michael Strickler - I was aware of this feature. Some estimates of the casualties from a Japanese invasion of the mainland were in excess of 1,000,000 men killed or wounded during the invasion process. After that, I have not yet seen any information that would provide details regarding follow on casualties...but I know that they were expected to be high in bloody house-to-house fighting.
For those that have an interest in military history and how to make it both entertaining and relatable, "Dirty Little Secrets of WWII" is one of my favorites. It talks about all kinds of things and is literally a "random trivia book". For example, Hitler's train was called Amerika...but they also talk about the fact that WW2 bomber pilots had to be placed on low fiber diets, because with the unpressurized cabins, farting could be dangerous/deadly due to decreased atmospheric pressures allowing the gas to expand and either incapacitating or killing the crewmember.
There are literally hundreds of pages, and it's a sometimes humorous, sometimes mindblowing.....always good book to read.
v/r,
CPT Butler
For those that have an interest in military history and how to make it both entertaining and relatable, "Dirty Little Secrets of WWII" is one of my favorites. It talks about all kinds of things and is literally a "random trivia book". For example, Hitler's train was called Amerika...but they also talk about the fact that WW2 bomber pilots had to be placed on low fiber diets, because with the unpressurized cabins, farting could be dangerous/deadly due to decreased atmospheric pressures allowing the gas to expand and either incapacitating or killing the crewmember.
There are literally hundreds of pages, and it's a sometimes humorous, sometimes mindblowing.....always good book to read.
v/r,
CPT Butler
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Jennifer Lee (Doerflinger) Hill
5 y
Are we still using the body bags, too, or were they used up in Vietnam/Cambodia/et al?
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Posted 10 y ago
That's an extremely interesting find, Cpl Michael Strickler. Great article, and - as you said - what an interesting link to our country's and our military past.
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Posted 10 y ago
Great piece of military trivia. Looking forward to any more that may surface.
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