SULPHUR SPRINGS — The July 14 Sulphur Springs City Council meeting began with an introduction by Mayor Greg Barber of a special guest speaker. The speaker was there to make an announcement, a proclamation on behalf of the Military Order of the Purple Heart. Charles W. (Chuck) Adkins, Jr., senior vice commander of the order, came from Fayetteville to present to city officials a plaque and a letter designating Sulphur Springs as a Purple Heart City.
Sulphur Springs becomes the latest town on a list of 30 cities in Arkansas and one of 1,293 cities or counties across the U.S. to receive the Purple Heart designation, Adkins said. During his 10-minute presentation, Adkins read from a prepared script with its heading of "Purple Heart City/Trail."
He read that the Purple Heart Trails and Cities Program began in 1992. The program, he said, "is to create a symbolic and honorary system of cities, highways, bridges and other monuments that give tribute to the men and women who have been awarded the Purple Heart medal."
The designation now allows Sulphur Springs to display prepared signs at the town's city limit. Sulphur Springs not only becomes a Purple Heart City but also becomes a visual reminder to everyone about the high cost of the "freedom to live and travel in a free society," Adkins read.
The Purple Heart is the nation's oldest military medal. Known first as the Badge of Military Merit, Gen. George Washington awarded it to three enlisted soldiers in 1782 at Newburgh, N.Y. President Herbert Hoover signed the War Department's general order No. 3 to designate the same award as the Purple Heart in 1932.
Adkins said the nation awards the Purple Heart medal to any member of the U.S. Armed forces who is "wounded by an instrument of war at the hands of their enemy." Since 2015, Purple Heart recipients also include those service members wounded or killed by attacks or acts committed by terrorist groups in the U.S., as well as in U.S. friendly countries.
Adkins said he is a Purple Heart recipient. He received the honor during the current Middle East war after an improvised explosive device targeted the vehicle in which he was riding.
General News on 07/20/2016