WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump recognized nearly 100 recipients of the Purple Heart at the White House on Thursday, including three service members who gave him their own medals after an attempt on his life at a Pennsylvania campaign rally.
Trump opened the event marking National Purple Heart Day by noting that dozens of the award’s recipients were at the ceremony in the East Room. The Republican president offered “everlasting thanks to you and your unbelievable families.”
But he had special words for the trio of veterans who sent Trump their medals after the 2024 shooting in Butler. Trump said the trio, “showed me the same unbelievable gesture of kindness.”
“What a great honor to get those Purple Hearts. I guess, in a certain way, it wasn’t that easy for me either, when you think of it,” Trump said of the attempt on his life. “But you went through a lot more than I did, and I appreciate it very much.”
After a shooter’s bullet pierced the upper part of Trump’s right ear in Butler just days before the 2024 Republican National Convention, the then-Republican presidential candidate was gifted medals from some Purple Heart recipients. The medals were presented to him at campaign events during the race’s closing months.
According to the White House, some of those Purple Heart recipients were brought to Trump’s campaign stops so that he could return their medals to them.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also attended, along with Chris LaCivita, Trump’s former campaign co-manager and a Marine veteran who is also a Purple Heart recipient.
National Purple Heart Day is marked annually on Aug. 7.
The Purple Heart, the oldest military award still in use and is awarded to service members who are killed or wounded while engaging in enemy action or resulting from acts of terrorism. According to the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor, more than 1.8 million medals have been presented since the award’s inception in 1782.
Trump also highlighted the stories of valor of other Purple Heart recipients, including Army Spc. Kevin Jensen whose Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in 2008. Jensen pulled fellow Purple Heart recipient, Capt. Sam Brown, from the flames.
“He flew 10 feet up in the air, exploded in flames. The whole place was in flames, including, unfortunately, Kevin,” Trump said of Jansen. “He suffered deep, third-degree burns all over his body. He was in trouble, big trouble. Despite the agony, he selflessly ran to the aid of his platoon leader.”
Trump also used the ceremony to gloat about having authorized a 2020 U.S. drone strike, during his first term, that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Trump derided Soleimani on Thursday as “father of the roadside bomb.”
“Where is he? Where is he?” Trump scoffed to attendee laughter. “Where is Soleimani?”
Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP. Associated Press writer Will Weissert contributed reporting.