FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Alting: Brave Purple Heart recipients
deserve educational opportunity
(STATEHOUSE)- Hoosiers awarded with a Purple Heart could receive tuition and fee exemptions to use towards furthering their education at state institutions if a bill sponsored by Sen. Ron Alting (R-Lafayette) becomes law. Alting said the Homeland Security, Transportation and Veterans Affairs Senate committee voted nine to zero today in favor of House Bill 1249, which now goes to the full Senate for further consideration.
“Receiving a Purple Heart award is a great honor,” Alting said. “By allowing tuition exemptions, honorees could be awarded the gift of education, a gift that will help them throughout their lives.”
Alting said the measure applies to Purple Heart recipients serving since Sept. 10, 2001. Currently, children of these soldiers may be eligible for tuition exemptions. HB 1249 will allow the children and the Purple Heart recipient to receive exemptions towards earning their associates or first baccalaureate degree.
According to Alting, an estimated 30,000 Hoosiers have actively served in the military since Sept. 10, 2001. Approximately 261 of them received a Purple Heart, which is given to soldiers wounded in military conflict.
Originally created as the Badge of Military Merit by General George Washington, the Purple Heart was the first American award available to the common soldier. Now, the Purple Heart is the world’s oldest military decoration in use.
Though multiple circumstances exist under which one can receive the Purple Heart, Army regulations state that those eligible for the award must receive a wound during action with an enemy and the wound must necessitate treatment by a medical officer. Commanders are authorized to give the award as a “result of a singular meritorious act of essential service.”
“While the cost of tuition is increasing, the demand for college graduates in the workforce is also rising,” Alting said. “These soldiers deserve every opportunity in which they can better their lives, and a college education is a tool that can help them achieve this goal.”
Sen. Alting represents Senate District 22, which includes a portion of Tippecanoe County.
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