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Calls, Web hits flood Purple Heart Hall of Honor - 30 May, 2006
VAILS GATE, N.Y. -- A new museum devoted to veterans who earned the Purple Heart for being wounded in combat was besieged with some 6,000 inquiries after a weekend Associated Press story detailed the ongoing efforts to find recipients.
When the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor opens in November, visitors will be able to search out facts and stories about soldiers wounded or killed. New York officials heading the project think there are up to 1.7 million soldiers who belong on the list.
State parks officials quietly collected information for years and then, in March, put out a widespread plea for veterans and families to share their stories and materials. Organizers said about 5,000 responses had come in _ everything from e-mails from Iraq to packages with typed stories and sepia-tinged photos _ before the AP story ran in newspapers and on Web sites around the country.
Since Monday, the hall's Web site has logged 5,200 hits and there have been 800 calls or faxes from people offering stories, said state Parks Commissioner Bernadette Castro. Phone lines were busy much of Tuesday.
"People are beginning to realize that within minutes of West Point, New York will host what soon will be the official National Purple Heart Hall of Honor," Castro said.
The parks department soon will make it easier to submit information, adding an interactive link to the Web site. Recipients or their families should provide accurate documentation of the awarding and all the stories will be verified before they are included in the hall, Castro said.
"No one should worry that the lines are busy," Castro said. "We will be adding (recipients) daily. There's no deadline."
The hall is being built at a historic site north of New York City where George Washington's army camped toward the end of the Revolutionary War. It was here in 1782 that Washington created the Badge of Military Merit, which he decreed would be "the figure of a heart in purple cloth."
The badge fell into disuse after the war, but was reintroduced as the Purple Heart in 1932. Thousands of World War I veterans received Purple Hearts retroactively _ as did a few very old Civil War veterans. In 1942, Purple Hearts were restricted to those "wounded in action against any enemy."
Museum officials are also coaxing wounded veterans to tell their story in front of cameras for the museum's exhibits and archives. There's a sense of urgency because the number of surviving World War II veterans is shrinking quickly.
Here's how to contact the Hall:
On the Internet:
Purple Heart Hall of Honor: http://nysparks.state.ny.us/heritage/purple_hrt.asp (Note the underscore between the words "purple" and "hrt.")
By phone: 845-561-1765.
By fax: 845-561-6577.
By mail:
National Purple Heart Hall of Honor
New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site
P.O. Box 207
Vails Gate, NY 12584-0207
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