Dozens Of Purple Heart Recipients To Be Honored In Niagara County

It is the award for the highest of valor-the Purple Heart.

Buffalo News reports that,

More than 50 of Niagara County's Purple Heart recipients are expected to be on hand for the first of what is expected to be an annual event marking National Purple Heart Day.

The ceremony is Tomorrow (Wednesday) night in North Tonawanda.

The county has compiled a special steel-covered book with a page for each of its 278 known Purple Heart recipients, County Clerk Joseph A. Jastrzemski said.

Adds Buffalo News,

The Purple Heart is the medal awarded to all service personnel injured in combat. Although it was first awarded by George Washington to a few Revolutionary War veterans, the medal as it's known today has existed only since 1932, although eligibility was made retroactive to World War I.