A Vietnam soldier gave Donald Trump a Purple Heart and said that the former president’s reaction to the first attempt on his life at the July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, had inspired him a lot.
The Department of Defense (DOD) says that the Purple Heart has been given to honor effort and bravery in the U.S. military since the times of the Revolutionary War.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who was in charge of the event, read a letter from a soldier named “Dwight.”
Dwight told Trump that he was brave and gave him the Purple Heart medallion that he earned “as a young Marine in Vietnam.”
Also, service members who have been hurt or killed in battle are given Purple Hearts.
“Dear President Trump, my wife and I both let out a sigh of relief and shed a few tears as we watched you get back up at the Butler event,” Dwight wrote. “It would be an honor if you could accept this small gift I got in Vietnam when I was a young marine.”
“Both my wife and I thought it was right.” May God bless you, your family, and the USA. Thank you very much, Dwight,” he ended.
A campaign event in Fayetteville, North Carolina, called Dwight up on stage, where he talked about how much he admired the former president.
“You got it. You laid down there. You came back. And the first words you said were ‘Fight, fight, fight,’” Dwight said, talking about how Trump reacted after being shot in the ear at the party in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July, which almost killed him.
“I can’t think of anyone who deserves a Purple Heart more,” Dwight said.
“There was nothing you could shoot back at him. You’re brave. The cut wasn’t very bad, but it was very close to being terrible,” he said.
In response, Trump said, “I got lucky, and maybe it wasn’t so lucky. It could be something else, right? There may be something else up there.”
Trump went on to say that receiving Dwight’s Purple Heart was “a great honor.”
