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Hernando Today

Purple Heart Chapter Dwindling

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By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: August 7, 2008

SPRING HILL - Each year on Aug. 7, Hernando County's Purple Heart recipients once gathered to recognize what they'd given for their country.

But as veterans got older and died off, membership in the Chapter 560 of the Military Order of the Purple Heart began to decline. The group met at VFW Post 10209 in Spring Hill.

About five years ago, the membership got so low the group had to disband because it didn't have enough to fill officer positions.

Today, Purple Heart Day goes by in Hernando with little fanfare. There are only three surviving members of the Purple Heart chapter, said Bob Sharkey, a Korean War veteran and charter member of the now-defunct chapter.

"I do miss the camaraderie we used to have," said Sharkey, a former U.S. Army combat engineer who was shot in the leg in a firefight in 1952.

The chapter was founded around 1988 by 25 charter members and hit a high of 56 members, Sharkey said. The group would sponsor comedy acts and concerts at Post 10209, back in its former building on Spring Hill Drive.

"We sure put on some good shows for the post," Sharkey said.

The medal that is now the Purple Heart actually began as the "Badge of Military Merit." On Aug. 7, 1782, in Newburgh, N.Y., General George Washington designed a new badge of distinction for enlisted men and noncommissioned officers awarded for "any singularly meritorious action."

In 1931, the medal was redesigned to feature a profile of Washington. It is now awarded to any member of the Armed Forces who has been wounded or killed, died as a result of a wound in battle, or otherwise designated by the president of the United States.

It's impossible to know just how many living Purple Heart recipients there are in Hernando County.

There is at least one clue, though.

The tax collector issued or renewed 74 Purple Heart specialty license plates here last year. The tags declare the owner is a "Combat-wounded Veteran."

Post Commander Jesse Sanchez is one of the other former members of the Purple Heart chapter. Sanchez has two Purple Hearts, one for each gunshot wound he suffered during four tours in Vietnam.

There just might be a new chapter here in coming years as wounded veterans return from Iraq and Afghanistan, Sanchez said.

It might take a while, though, he said. Returning veterans are more concerned about family and jobs.

Once they get older, though, "They say, 'I've got to have something to do."

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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