a marine comes home

Our local paper published the story of Marine Cpl. Charlie Leak who was shot in Afghanistan on July 28. The article recounts the events leading up to the injury and his return home to Georgia recently.

To read and view the slideshow, click on this link to Portrait of a Marine

The history of the Purple Heart award dates back to the American Revolution, circa 1782, known then as the Badge of Military Merit. Bedrossian estimates the number of overall Purple Heart recipients at 1.7 million, including a handful of Civil War soldiers. Estimating the number of recipients in more recent conflicts such as Afghanistan is next to impossible, in the wake of paperwork snafus and a general lack of tracking, Bedrossian says. A November 2008 study by "National Geographic" estimated the number for Afghanistan vets at 2,743.

In the hierarchy of military decorations, the Purple Heart falls roughly nine slots from the zenith, the Medal of Honor. Nonetheless, Bedrossian calls it the most recognizable decoration, the most identified.

"(The medal) was for the common man - not for the officer, the rich fellow," he says. "There is a sense of honor there. You perceive it differently because there was a sacrifice."