RIDGWAY – Two Pennsylvania national guardsmen, including Staff
Sgt. Steve Kerr of Duke Center, have received a Purple Heart for
their efforts in Iraq.

During a ceremony on Saturday at the Ridgway Armory, Brigadier
General James R. Joseph presented the awards to Kerr and SFC Thomas
Baker Jr., of Berlin, Pa., who also received an Army Commendation
Medal and Combat Action Badge.

The Purple Heart is the oldest military decoration in the world
presently in use and the first to be available to common soldiers.
The original Purple Heart award was instituted by George Washington
in 1782 to reward troops for “unusual gallantry” and “extraordinary
fidelity and essential service.”

The award features a purple cloth heart edged in silver braid
and is to be worn over the left breast of the uniform. ð

Kerr was injured May 22, 2005, while serving in Iraq.

“We were in Tikrit (Iraq) and we were doing an engagement and
the commander was in with the Iraqi police at one of their
stations,” Kerr said. “We were outside pulling a patrol. A suicide
bomber pulled up and detonated it. My best friend was killed and I
was blown on the ground.”

Kerr’s back was injured and he received numerous cuts and
abrasions. He was taken to Forward Operating Base Speicher for
treatment. He returned to duty about a week after the incident and
was home in July for rest and relaxation leave.

His wife, Kathleen, attended the ceremony. She found out about
the injury when Kerr called her.

“They made sure I got a hold of her first,” Kerr said. “The
staff had a phone set up before anybody else had a chance (to
call). At the time, it was 1 a.m. her time.”

Meanwhile, receiving the Purple Heart honor is a tradition in
the Baker family. His grandfather received one after being injured
in World War II.

Baker was injured Oct. 29, 2005, while on a routine patrol in
Iraq.

“We were out in our sector for not even an hour and we did
several runs back and forth from our patrol area and we had drove
past the same spot three or four times,” Baker said. “An explosion
went off. I fell back into my bank commander’s seat. I didn’t think
about it at the time, but my arm hurt.”

Baker’s arm bone was shattered in the attack.

“We drove our tank back to the aid station and within two hours
I was in a field hospital having surgery, after that in a plane to
Germany.” He ended up in Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Fort
Gordon, Ga., where he had another six surgeries to repair the
damage to his arm. He went through rehab and therapy until June or
July of 2006. Baker plans to stay in the National Guard until he is
able to retire in eight years.

Baker’s wife, Shelly, and his parents Tom and Linda, attended
the ceremony.

“He called me from Germany and I knew the instant he called what
happened. It was the clearest connection we had, so I knew. There
weren’t any delays or echoes on the line, it was crystal clear,”
Shelly said. “He told me what happened and it was just a little
unbelievable. I just denied that he could ever get hurt. Then he
lied to me all the time. He had been telling me nothing was ever
happening, ‘it was boring.’

“I am grateful he called me first because I wouldn’t have wanted
to hear it from anyone else. I was just happy he was able to
call.”

Later on, another person from the military called her to let her
know about the injury.

“I quizzed him because I didn’t think he (Thomas) was telling me
the whole truth, but he was,” she said.

Baker’s parents had to sign for their son to enlist because he
was only 17 at the time.

“This is what he wanted since he was 17,” his mother Linda said.
“It was probably the best thing that could have happened to him. I
think if he would have gone to school right after high school, he
wouldn’t have made it. This taught him a lot and now he’s teaching
others.”

While he was in Iraq, she sent boxes and boxes of Little
Debbies, Girl Scout cookies, microwave meals and licorice.

“We bought them microwave bowls because he was lucky enough to
have a microwave,” she said. “The one boy with him worked for me, I
was his boss, so we were sending enough to supply both.”

The Purple Heart as we know it today was re-established in 1932
to coincide with the 200th anniversary of George Washington’s
birth.ðThe original criteria for award as published in the War
Department Circular No. 6 of Feb. 22, 1932, states that the medal
be awarded to anyone serving in the U.S. Army who had received
combat-related injuries or had received the AEF’s Meritorious
Service Citation Certificate during World War I, the latter
criteria harkening back to the intent of George Washington’s “Badge
of Military Merit.”

The award of the Purple Heart was not authorized by the U.S.
Navy until 1942, sailors and Marines who had been wounded prior to
1932 were eligible to apply for the medal. In April 1942, the War
Department amended its policy regarding the issuance of the Purple
Heart.

The new regulations authorized the posthumous award retroactive
to Dec. 7, 1941, and eliminated the use of the medal as a merit
award. ðIn December 1942, the Navy Department authorized the award
for all fatal and non-fatal wounds retroactive to Dec. 7, 1941.
However, sailors and Marines wounded prior to this date were still
eligible to receive a Purple Heart upon application.