I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2875

To establish procedures for consideration of applications for award of the 

Purple Heart medal to veterans who were held as prisoners of war 

before April 25, 1962. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 24, 2003

Mr. JONES of North Carolina introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL

To establish procedures for consideration of applications for 

award of the Purple Heart medal to veterans who were 

held as prisoners of war before April 25, 1962.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. PROCEDURES FOR CONSIDERATION OF APPLI4 CATIONS FOR AWARD OF THE PURPLE 

5 HEART MEDAL TO VETERANS HELD AS PRIS6 ONERS OF WAR BEFORE APRIL 25, 1962. 

7 Subsection (b) of section 521 of the National Defense 

8 Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 (Public Law 104–
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1 106; 110 Stat. 309; 10 U.S.C. 1129 note) is amended to 

2 read as follows: 

3 ‘‘(b) STANDARDS AND PROCEDURES FOR AWARD.—

4 In determining whether a former prisoner of war is eligible 

5 for the award of the Purple Heart under subsection (a), 

6 the Secretary concerned shall apply the following proce7 dures: 

8 ‘‘(1) The standard to be used by the Secretary 

9 concerned for awarding the Purple Heart under this 

10 section shall be to award the Purple Heart in any 

11 case in which a prisoner of war (A) was wounded 

12 while in captivity, or (B) while in captivity was sub13 jected to systematic and prolonged deprivation of 

14 food, medical treatment, and other forms of depriva15 tion or mistreatment likely to have prolonged 

16 aftereffects on the individual concerned. 

17 ‘‘(2) When a former prisoner of war applies for 

18 the Purple Heart under subsection (a), the Secretary 

19 concerned may request the former prisoner of war to 

20 provide any documentation that the Secretary would 

21 otherwise require, but failure of the former prisoner 

22 of war to provide such documentation shall not by 

23 itself be a disqualification for award of the Purple 

24 Heart. 
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1 ‘‘(3) The Secretary concerned shall inform the 

2 former prisoner of war that historical information as 

3 to the prison camp or other circumstances in which 

4 the former prisoner of war was held captive and 

5 other information as to the circumstances of the 

6 former prisoner of war’s captivity may be considered 

7 by the Secretary in evaluating the application for the 

8 award of the Purple Heart and that the former pris9 oner of war may submit such information. 

10 ‘‘(4) The Secretary concerned shall provide as11 sistance to the applicant for the Purple Heart in ob12 taining information referred to in paragraph (3). 

13 ‘‘(5) The Secretary shall review a completed ap14 plication under this section based upon the totality 

15 of the evidence presented and shall take into account 

16 the length of time between the period during which 

17 the applicant was held as a prisoner of war and the 

18 date of the application. 

19 ‘‘(6) In considering an application under this 

20 section, the Secretary shall take into account the 

21 length of time that the applicant was held in cap22 tivity, which while not in itself establishing entitle23 ment of the applicant to award of the Purple Heart, 

24 can and should be a factor in determining whether 

25 a former prisoner of war was likely to have been 
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1 wounded, starved, or denied medical treatment to 

2 the extent likely to have prolonged aftereffects on 

3 the individual concerned.’’.

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