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thedrifter
02-26-07, 07:10 AM
02/25/2007
Duke Center man receives Purple Heart during ceremony
By: GRETCHEN ROKOSKY Era Correspondent

RIDGWAY - Two Pennsylvania national guardsmen, including Staff Sgt. Steve Kerr of Duke Center, have received a Purple Heart for their efforts in Iraq.

During a ceremony on Saturday at the Ridgway Armory, Brigadier General James R. Joseph presented the awards to Kerr and SFC Thomas Baker Jr., of Berlin, Pa., who also received an Army Commendation Medal and Combat Action Badge.

The Purple Heart is the oldest military decoration in the world presently in use and the first to be available to common soldiers. The original Purple Heart award was instituted by George Washington in 1782 to reward troops for "unusual gallantry" and "extraordinary fidelity and essential service."

The award features a purple cloth heart edged in silver braid and is to be worn over the left breast of the uniform.

Kerr was injured May 22, 2005, while serving in Iraq.

"We were in Tikrit (Iraq) and we were doing an engagement and the commander was in with the Iraqi police at one of their stations," Kerr said. "We were outside pulling a patrol. A suicide bomber pulled up and detonated it. My best friend was killed and I was blown on the ground."

Kerr's back was injured and he received numerous cuts and abrasions. He was taken to Forward Operating Base Speicher for treatment. He returned to duty about a week after the incident and was home in July for rest and relaxation leave.

His wife, Kathleen, attended the ceremony. She found out about the injury when Kerr called her.

"They made sure I got a hold of her first," Kerr said. "The staff had a phone set up before anybody else had a chance (to call). At the time, it was 1 a.m. her time."

Meanwhile, receiving the Purple Heart honor is a tradition in the Baker family. His grandfather received one after being injured in World War II.

Baker was injured Oct. 29, 2005, while on a routine patrol in Iraq.

"We were out in our sector for not even an hour and we did several runs back and forth from our patrol area and we had drove past the same spot three or four times," Baker said. "An explosion went off. I fell back into my bank commander's seat. I didn't think about it at the time, but my arm hurt."

Baker's arm bone was shattered in the attack.

"We drove our tank back to the aid station and within two hours I was in a field hospital having surgery, after that in a plane to Germany." He ended up in Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Fort Gordon, Ga., where he had another six surgeries to repair the damage to his arm. He went through rehab and therapy until June or July of 2006. Baker plans to stay in the National Guard until he is able to retire in eight years.

Baker's wife, Shelly, and his parents Tom and Linda, attended the ceremony.

"He called me from Germany and I knew the instant he called what happened. It was the clearest connection we had, so I knew. There weren't any delays or echoes on the line, it was crystal clear," Shelly said. "He told me what happened and it was just a little unbelievable. I just denied that he could ever get hurt. Then he lied to me all the time. He had been telling me nothing was ever happening, 'it was boring.'

"I am grateful he called me first because I wouldn't have wanted to hear it from anyone else. I was just happy he was able to call."

Later on, another person from the military called her to let her know about the injury.

"I quizzed him because I didn't think he (Thomas) was telling me the whole truth, but he was," she said.

Baker's parents had to sign for their son to enlist because he was only 17 at the time.

"This is what he wanted since he was 17," his mother Linda said. "It was probably the best thing that could have happened to him. I think if he would have gone to school right after high school, he wouldn't have made it. This taught him a lot and now he's teaching others."

While he was in Iraq, she sent boxes and boxes of Little Debbies, Girl Scout cookies, microwave meals and licorice.

"We bought them microwave bowls because he was lucky enough to have a microwave," she said. "The one boy with him worked for me, I was his boss, so we were sending enough to supply both."

The Purple Heart as we know it today was re-established in 1932 to coincide with the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth. The original criteria for award as published in the War Department Circular No. 6 of Feb. 22, 1932, states that the medal be awarded to anyone serving in the U.S. Army who had received combat-related injuries or had received the AEF's Meritorious Service Citation Certificate during World War I, the latter criteria harkening back to the intent of George Washington's "Badge of Military Merit."

The award of the Purple Heart was not authorized by the U.S. Navy until 1942, sailors and Marines who had been wounded prior to 1932 were eligible to apply for the medal. In April 1942, the War Department amended its policy regarding the issuance of the Purple Heart.

The new regulations authorized the posthumous award retroactive to Dec. 7, 1941, and eliminated the use of the medal as a merit award. In December 1942, the Navy Department authorized the award for all fatal and non-fatal wounds retroactive to Dec. 7, 1941. However, sailors and Marines wounded prior to this date were still eligible to receive a Purple Heart upon application.

Ellie