Purple Heart used to mean something different

The next time you hear someone say that PTSD and TBI do not qualify for the Purple Heart, remember this.

Women Who Served

First Lt. Annie G. Fox, Army Nurse Corps, was on duty at Pearl Harbor at the time of the attack.

For her outstanding performance, she was recommended for and awarded the Purple Heart.

Originally established by Gen. George Washington in 1782, the Purple Heart was reinstituted in 1932 for the bicentennial of Washington's birth. Although generally awarded to service members wounded in action, it was also awarded for any "singularly meritorious act of extraordinary fidelity or essential service."

Later in the war, the requirements for award of the Purple Heart were limited to wounds received as a result of enemy action. At that time, individuals were given other awards to replace the Purple Heart.

PTSD in Civil War times

PTSD in Civil War times: A Md. museum exhibit
By Associated Press
November 29, 2013

FREDERICK, Md. — A new exhibit at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick offers a historical perspective on post-traumatic stress disorder.

The exhibit is titled, “The Emotional Toll of War.” It opened last weekend and will be up through March.

The exhibit includes period newspaper articles, soldiers’ letters and accounts by Civil War surgeons.

The documents offer perspectives on homesickness, melancholy, insanity and suicide.
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Military hot spots for spirits

Military spots where spirits are said to roam
Army Times
By Jon R. Anderson
Staff writer
Oct. 24, 2013

It didn’t take long for the lady in gray to show up in the boys’ room shortly after the Keen family arrived at their new duty station in Hawaii.

It was the winter of 2009. Maj. Jake Keen, his wife Carrie and their two boys had just moved into their new house on Kline Road, lined with palm trees and typical military-issue units on the northeastern edge of the Army’s Schofield Barracks on Oahu.

The mysterious woman first appeared before their youngest son in the middle of the night.

“He was just 3 at the time and had a very active imagination, so I didn’t think much of it at first,” Carrie Keen says.

Then the older brother started seeing her. Eventually, her husband started seeing the apparition, too.

“I never physically saw her, but she would definitely let me know she was there. She was very active. We think she had been a maid,” says Keen, who says the presence — whatever it was — lived with them through the entire three years they were stationed in Hawaii.
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