Bill to create Purple Heart coin series gains traction in Congress

Josh Marino suffered a traumatic brain injury when an enemy mortar exploded a few feet away from him during his 2007 deployment to Baghdad. In the moment, he had no idea what had happened.

“At the time I thought, ‘Man, those cannons we have on base are really loud. They’re shaking things way over here,’ ” said Marino, 41, of Brookline, an Army combat veteran who received the Purple Heart medal for his wounds.

National Purple Heart Day was Aug. 7, and in a rare modern moment of federal bipartisanship, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are lining up to cosponsor legislation creating a series of Purple Heart commemorative coins.

Nearly half the U.S. Senate, Democrats and Republicans alike, are listed as cosponsors of Senate Bill 2815, the National Purple Heart Honor Mission Commemorative Coin Act. It would authorize the U.S. Treasury to create $5 gold coins, $1 silver coins and half-dollar clad coins — made of multiple layers of metal — for 2022.

After production costs are recouped, proceeds from sales of the coins would go to the National Purple Heart Honor Mission to fund its nationwide educational programming.

A 2019 companion bill in the U.S. House has 307 cosponsors.

“This honor for the nation’s Purple Heart recipients is long overdue, and proceeds from this commemorative coin will help ensure these heroes’ stories of valor are told to a whole new generation of Americans,” said Richie Lay, Purple Heart recipient and chairman of the National Purple Heart Honor Mission.

For Marino, who works as an education coordinator and veteran peer mentor at the University of Pittsburgh’s Human Engineering Research Laboratories, being a Purple Heart recipient stirs mixed emotions.

“When I signed up, I knew what I was getting into,” he said. “A medal is one thing, but it’s what it means that’s most important to me. It can actually be an analog to the coins that are coming out.

“It’s not the coins themselves. It’s whether the general population knows what they mean and represent.”

The Purple Heart medal is 238 years old. It was instituted in 1782 by George Washington to recognize meritorious service among Continental Army soldiers.

Originally known as as the Badge of Military Merit, the award was revamped into its modern form in 1932 — the 200th anniversary of Washington’s birth — and became the Purple Heart. Washington is featured on the heart-shaped medal.

It recognizes a service member who is wounded by an enemy. If the service member is killed in action, it is presented to the next of kin.

Below, watch video from this year’s National Purple Heart Day ceremony.