Indiana Congressman Calls Purple Heart Revocation 'Ridiculous'

[leftchick]

http://www.nbc5.com/news/4103696/detail.html

CHICAGO -- During the early days of the Iraqi war, 1st Lt. Dustin Ferrell was riding in a Humvee in a huge convoy with thousands of soldiers on their way to Nasiriyah.

Then, while Ferrell was riding in that convoy in March 2003, he suddenly found himself on the ground.


"The first thing I can really remember is people yelling for me to squeeze their hand to hold on and not close my eyes," Ferrell said.

For his injuries, the Marine Corps awarded Ferrell, who is 26 years old, a Purple Heart. But that Purple Heart has now been revoked, along with 10 others, NBC5's Mary Ann Ahern reported. Ahern spoke with Ferrell in his only television interview.

The driver of the Humvee had been killed, while Ferrell and two others had been seriously injured. Ferrell said he was told he had been hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

"I was bleeding in my mouth a lot," Ferrell said. "But the first thing I said was, 'Am I going to live?' And everyone said, 'Oh, yeah, you're going to be fine, sir. You're going to be fine, just hold on.'"