Opinion: O.C. Honors Veterans by Becoming a Purple Heart County

In 1782, future President George Washington first established the Purple Heart Medal as a Badge of Military Merit to be awarded to any soldier who performed a singularly meritorious action. Today, the Purple Heart Medal recognizes American soldiers wounded or killed in the line of duty. Orange County is home to more than four hundred living recipients of this honor.

The selfless display of bravery exhibited by Purple Heart Medal recipients is deserving of the utmost admiration of our community and is the motivation behind this County designation. With it, Orange County becomes the sixth County in California to be designated as a “Purple Heart County” following Shasta, Colusa, Ken, Riverside and Ventura counties.

As a member of a military family, whose father was a former member of the Vietnamese military and whose brother is a former U.S. Marine, I feel privileged to have worked alongside Chapter .252 of the Military Order of the Purple Heart to author the resolution that led to this designation.

I am also thankful to my colleagues on the Orange County Board of Supervisors for their support in honoring Orange County’s rich military history. Our County is full of admirable heroes both living and deceased; including more than 500 Civil War Veterans who are buried right here in the Santa Ana and Fairhaven Cemeteries.

As residents of this County, I invite all of you to join me in my effort to honor all veterans, the more than 400 Purple Heart Medal recipients and the more than 120,000 veterans living in Orange County. All veterans have made great sacrifices for us, having left jobs, educational opportunities and loved ones to risk injury or death to secure the freedom of our nation.

This Veterans Day presents a great opportunity for us to exemplify our designation as a “Purple Heart County” by coming together to thank all heroes past, present and future who have made the United States of America, the State of California and the County of Orange a better, safer place for us to live and enjoy.

Janet Nguyen
Orange County Board of Supervisors, First District

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