http://www.boston.com/news/daily/27/purple_hearts.htm

Pentagon to award Purple Hearts and civilian medals in Sept. 11 attacks

By Robert Burns, Associated Press, 09/27/01

WASHINGTON -- All members of the U.S. armed services killed or wounded in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will be awarded the Purple Heart, and the Defense Department has created the Defense of Freedom Medal to be awarded to all department civilians killed or wounded.

In making the announcement Thursday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the tributes were appropriate, given the unprecedented nature of the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.

"They were acts of war -- military strikes against the United States of America," Rumsfeld said.

Charles Abell, the assistant secretary of defense for force management policy, told reporters that an estimated 90 Defense Department civilians are eligible for the new medal, which consists of a golden circle framing a bald eagle holding a shield. The reverse of the medal is inscribed with "On Behalf of a Grateful Nation."

The ribbon to which the medal is attached is red, white and blue. The red portion has four stripes, representing the number of hijackings. The single blue stripe represents the attack on the Pentagon.

Abell said he did not yet have an accurate count of the number of military members eligible for the Purple Heart. At least 54 service members were killed at the Pentagon and an undetermined number were seriously injured. Some military members may have been among the casualties in New York, he said.

The civilians include those killed or wounded at the Pentagon as well as a small number at the World Trade Center or aboard the hijacked airliner that crashed in Pennsylvania shortly after the Pentagon attack.

Rumsfeld said there is no precedent for the circumstance that led him to decide to award the Purple Hearts and the new civilian medals.

"For most of our history, combat has been something that has largely taken place on foreign soil," he said. "These strikes were the first on American soil since the second World War, and the first attack on our capital by a foreign enemy since the War of 1812. These assaults have brought the battlefield home to us."

-- Anonymous, September 27, 2001