More POWs now eligible for Purple Heart - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

More POWs now eligible for Purple Heart

An expansion of eligibility criteria could result in retroactive awards of the Purple Heart to prisoners of war who died in captivity and were previously deemed ineligible for the award, the Pentagon announced Monday.

The revised policy allows the retroactive award of the medal to qualifying prisoners of war from Dec. 7, 1941, forward. An estimated 17,000 former service members could be affected by the change, according to the Pentagon’s Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office.

The Purple Heart is awarded to service members who are wounded or killed in combat, an international terrorist attack, during overseas peacekeeping duty, while held as a prisoner of war or while being taken captive.

But the services’ award criteria previously excluded the medal for those who died in captivity if it could not be proved they were wounded or killed by enemy action, Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said.

The revised policy presumes that service members who die in captivity as a “qualifying prisoner of war” died as the “result of enemy action,” the result of wounds incurred “in action with the enemy” or as a result of wounds incurred as a “result of enemy action” during capture, unless there is compelling evidence to the contrary, Lainez said.

The policy revision, “reflects the feeling that the conditions and circumstances of capture and captivity are difficult to document and that for those service members who die in captivity, the department should presume enemy action,” Lainez said.

Prior to making the change, the Pentagon consulted with representatives from the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the Military Order of the World Wars and the American Legion, all of whom said they support the awarding of the Purple Heart to prisoners of war who died while in captivity, Lainez said.

Posthumous awards of the Purple Heart can be made to the deceased service member’s representative, who should apply to the appropriate military service.

Each military department will publish application procedures and ensure accessibility by the general public, the Pentagon says. Family members with questions can contact the services. Army: Military Awards Branch, (703) 325-8700; Navy: Navy Personnel Command, Retired Records Section, (314) 592-1150; Air Force: Air Force Personnel Center, (800) 616-3775; Marine Corps: Military Awards Branch, (703) 784-9340.