Columbia’s city hall turned regal purple in honor of those whose service went above and beyond what was expected of them.
Former army serviceman, Roger Caffrey, was one of the recipients of the award.
“The Purple Heart is a medal given to any US service person who was wounded in a combat situation. Whether they were directly shot, hurt somehow because of a combat type thing – their vehicle being blown up because it was hit by a shell or something (like that),”Caffrey said.
Caffrey was one of the 14 people who were honored with the Purple Heart. Two soldiers were honored posthumously.
According to Missouri’s Commander of the MOPH, John Dismer, the aim of designating places like Columbia as a Purple Heart City is to make people more aware of an award that doesn’t necessarily make the news.
“There are so many people who don’t really know what the Purple Heart is, and what the sacrifices people have made to get one, which we didn’t really want”, Dismer said. “So that’s the whole gist behind this, it’s to make people aware of what the purple heart is and what price people (have to) pay to get one.”
There are 37 counties and 107 cities in Missouri that have received the Purple Heart designation.
The Purple Heart is one of the army’s most prestigious and oldest medals. It was originally created by George Washington in 1782 but was re-proposed after World War 1 in 1927. The Military Order of the Purple Heart was formed in 1932 and chartered by Congress in 1958. Missouri Chapters of MOPH are located in Columbia, Fenton, Forsyth, Ft. Leonard Wood, Joplin, Kansas City and Springfield.
Although the MOPH’s membership is restricted to the wounded soldiers, they support all veterans and their families with a myriad of nation-wide programs.