The following piece, written and researched by Jewhoo editor Nate Bloom, has appeared in various forms in several Jewish newspapers. This version is the last updated one and some of the names have not appeared in any newspaper before being posted here. As stated below, this list of American Jewish service personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan is not complete. It is simply impossible, given limited reporting resources, to gather that information for the reasons stated below.
Jewhoo, as a site, has tended towards popular culture and fun. However, it has always had a serious side. It is this serious side that I want to highlight with the first substantive article of the site's re-launch.
Nate Bloom
Jewhoo Editor
Nov. 11, 2005
VETERANS' DAY---2005
More Tears by the Rivers of Babylon: American Jewish Service People Killed in Afghanistan and Iraq
By Nate Bloom
It is impossible to compile an absolutely accurate list of the Jewish service personnel who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Defense Department no longer keeps statistics on the religion of their personnel. Moreover, Jewish chaplains observe a policy of strict confidentiality regarding the faith of service personnel and will neither confirm nor deny whether a war casualty was Jewish.
There is one more complication. Cheryl Waldman, public relations officer for the Jewish War Veterans, told me that many Jewish service personnel in Iraq are probably "flying under the radar." They do not want their Jewishness known lest it cause a very rare problem in their unit or, more seriously, that this fact becomes known to their enemies.
Nevertheless, the names of 15 Jewish service people killed in combat have become part of the public record via obituary notices and similar sources. And we honor them:
Marine Cpl. MARK ASHER EVNIN, 21, of South Burlington, Vermont, died in Iraq on April 3, 2003, of wounds received in action. He was a scout sniper with the 3/4 of the 1st Marine Division at 29 Palms, California. Evnin is the best known of the Jewish war dead because he was the first Jewish serviceman to die and he was among the first two dozen casualties of the war.
His story was told in an April 15, 2003 Jewish Telegraph Agency article: "The first known Jewish casualty of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Evnin opened an emotional outpouring from Jews around the world. 'From Israel to New Jersey, people have been calling, writing. It has been incredible,' said Evnin's mother, Mindy Evnin…'I don't know why it is. Maybe it's because the war might help Israel,' she said. 'Maybe because my father was a rabbi. I don't know, but it gives me pleasure.'"
Evnin was a 2000 graduate of South Burlington High School. He played high school football, lacrosse, and was a cross-country skier. His survivors include his parents, his maternal grandparents, and his paternal grandmother. His traditional Jewish funeral attracted over 1,000 mourners, including Gov. Douglas of Vermont.
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Army Spc. Jeffrey M. Wershow, 22, of Gainesville, Fla.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 124th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division, Orlando, Fla.; was shot and killed on July 6, 2003 in Baghdad. Wershow was a member of the Florida Army National Guard.
His life and death was profiled in USA Today. "... Wershow never let his guard down. His buddies nicknamed him "The General" because he strode about with a sense of purpose and confidence. ….He always stood at attention when addressing officers, when most other soldiers sweltering in the heat here would take a more casual attitude. So it was a shock on July 6 when the aspiring politician from Gainesville, Fla., was gunned down on the campus of Baghdad University after buying a 7-Up. If this gung-ho soldier who wanted another stint in Iraq could be killed in such a brazen way in a crowded place, his buddies figured it could happen to them, too. For the men of "Charlie" Company… of the Florida National Guard, Wershow's death occurred when most thought they would already be home....Buddies say Wershow was intelligent, tenacious and so gregarious that he'd talk to anyone, anytime. He loved to debate, even going so far as to take a position he opposed just to get a good argument going. 'He called himself a conservative Democrat, but we always teased him that he was a closet Republican,' recalls Glass, the company commander who's also from Gainesville. Wershow enlisted in the Army in 1999 after high school and served three years. When he got out in June 2002, he joined the National Guard. He had been back in Gainesville just six months, taking [college classes], when he was called to active duty...After several weeks of training, his company arrived…in Jordan on Feb. 16. Their mission was to provide security and search-and-rescue support to the special operations forces…. Wershow's unit became one of the first to enter Iraq as the war began. Under cover of darkness and using night-vision goggles to see, they breached dirt berms on Iraq's borders with Jordan and Saudi Arabia to allow special operations forces to drive through...The soldiers were led to believe they would be sent home in mid-May. Instead, [his company} was ordered to Baghdad. Wershow fretted that he would miss the fall semester at college. He talked about following his father, Jon Wershow, a former Alachua County, Fla., commissioner, to law school and then, perhaps, to elected office."
Wershow was guarding a detail of civilian Americans meeting with Iraqi university officials when he left the meeting, after two hours, to get a soft drink. He was fatally shot in the back of the neck by a gunman on the campus. The gunman escaped in the confusion that followed the shooting. Senator Bill Nelson of Florida called Wershow's death "an assassination."
Wershow was buried at his family's farm near Gainesville. He was awarded a Bronze Star for valor. More than 1,000 mourners, including many high-ranking officers, attended a memorial in the Oak Hall School gymnasium. Wershow's survivors include his father and mother, a stepmother and a stepfather, and a younger brother.
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DAVID BERNSTEIN, 24, formerly of Phoenixville, Pa., a first lieutenant with the Army's 173rd Airborne Infantry Brigade, was killed on October, 16, 2003, in Iraq, when enemy forces ambushed his patrol with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire. According to the local Phoenixville paper, the 173rd is famous for its quick reactions, most often carried out by parachuting into war zones. Bernstein was dropped into northern Iraq at the beginning of the war and had remained there since, according to his father, Richard Bernstein. His father told the paper, "He was an exceptional man and a wonderful person and he will be missed terribly. He felt very indebted to this country for what it has done for him, and for everyone. He wanted to serve his country, and he did."
David Bernstein was the 1997 valedictorian of his high school. He graduated fifth in his class from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point four years later. His funeral was held at the Jewish chapel at West Point. Survivors include his parents, a brother, and sister.
There was a little joke in the Bernstein family that the first through fourth ranking cadet got an award at graduation, but there was no award for the cadet ranking fifth in their class. Therefore, as a perpetual tribute to David, his family has established the 1st Lt. David R. Bernstein Memorial Award to be given to those in each graduating class of West Point who achieve the fifth highest class standing. The award has Academy approval and donations may be made through: https://www-secure.west-point.org/drb/memorial/donate
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Army Pfc. JACOB S. FLETCHER, 26, of Bay Shore, NY, was killed in Iraq on November 13, 2003. He was with Company C, 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade. Fletcher was killed when a bus he was riding in was hit by an explosive device. He was a 1994 graduate of Babylon High School and was inspired to join the military following the death of a friend in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. His father, Marlowe Fletcher, told Newsday, "Whether people believe in the war or not, you have to believe in our soldiers. This was an American soldier, airborne. He was my beloved son and he was a hero."
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Army Spc. MARC S. SEIDEN, 26, of Brigantine, New Jersey, died in Baghdad, Iraq, on January 3, 2004, when his convoy was ambushed by the enemy who used an improvised explosive device, small arms fire, and a rocket-propelled grenade. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne. His mother told the Fayetteville, North Carolina Observer that Seiden was "a daredevil since childhood" which led him to join the airborne. "I always had to have 25 eyes on him."
Marc Seiden was a New York Mets fan and played soccer in high school. He joined the Army in April 2002 and was assigned to the 82nd in September of that year. His mother, Gail Seiden, said that Marc joined the Army in part because of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. She added, "He joined because he felt he had a duty. I didn't understand it when he did it. I was angry at him because I knew what could possibly happen. But he felt like he could fight for his country and he wanted to." Marc, his mother said, called his family twice on New Year's eve and once on New Year's day. Marc was excited about coming home since his unit was scheduled to come back in February. His brother and sister-in-law, Gail Seiden explained, were expecting their first child. "Our first grandchild [was going] be born in two weeks, and [Marc] just could not wait. He was going to be the godfather." Seiden was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star for valor.
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Army Lt. SETH DVORIN, of East Brunswick, New Jersey, a member of the 10th Mountain Division, based at Fort Drum, N.Y., was killed February 3, 2004 in Iraq. His sister, Rebekah, told the Associated Press that the army informed her that "Seth's unit had been ordered to clear the area of the homemade mines and bombs that have killed dozens of troops...they were in a convoy and saw something in the road. My brother, the hero, told his driver to stop. That's when the bomb detonated, when they were trying to dismantle it."
His father, Richard Dvorin, an Air Force veteran and retired New Brunswick police officer, told the AP that his son was a loyal, responsible commander who sought to make life as easy as possible on the soldiers he oversaw. Offered two weeks' leave in December, his father said, Seth refused to go because so many of his platoon members had not yet had the chance.
Richard Dvorin, with tears rolling down his face, told the AP, "He was a good human being." Seth's survivors include his father, his sister, and his wife---a college sweetheart he had married a week before he was deployed. Dvorin was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star for valor.
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Sgt. ELIJAH TAI WAH WONG, 42, of Mesa, Arizona was killed Feb. 9, 2004 in Sinjar, Iraq when he and other soldiers were trying to move a cache of unexploded rocket-propelled grenades and mortar rounds, which had been seized from enemy forces. The cache blew up, killing Wong and another soldier.
Wong was with the 363rd Explosive Ordnance Company, Army National Guard, based in Casa Grande, Ariz.
As reported by the Chicago Tribune: "He himself was a composite of widely different cultures, a living example of the United States' hodgepodge of infused immigrant experiences, religions and races. His Chinese father, Wong Ning Nam, who was born in 1908, came to the U.S. by ship from Hong Kong. He landed in San Francisco without a suitcase and settled eventually in New York, where he married a Jewish woman, Wong's mother, Olga. 'My father came to this country with the shirt on his back," said Wong's sister, Helga. 'In the course of one generation, he has five children who are college-educated and own their own homes, as well as some of them owning their own businesses.'"
Wong was born and raised in New York and attended an Orthodox Jewish summer camp in New Jersey with his brother, Dov Wong. He moved to Israel as a teenager. He went to an Israeli high school and became a soldier in the Israeli army. He enlisted in the Air Force after returning to the States. Wong also served in the NY Air National Guard and the Air Forces Reserves before enlisting in the Arizona National Guard. He worked as a probation officer for Maricopa County, Arizona and was the married father of three minor children.
Helga Wong told the Tribune, "He was probably the most amazing person I have ever met. He really cared about everyone and everybody." She told the Arizona Republic this his work for the probation department was "Part of his plan to save the world. He tried to help the former inmates under his supervision work their way back into society. He believed in his country, with all its pros and cons.... I cannot imagine how many countless lives were saved by the (explosives) he had processed already."
Ironically, Helga Wong, a New York ballet dancer, saw one of the planes slam into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 from the window of her mother's downtown apartment.
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Coast Guard Petty Officer NATHAN BRUCKENTHAL, 24, was killed on April 25, 2004, along with two Navy sailors, while conducting maritime intercept operations in the North Arabian Gulf. He was guarding an oil platform in the Persian Gulf off the shore of Basra, Iraq, when a cargo ship began approaching. The ship blew up when Bruckenthal and others went out to intercept it. His funeral was held at Arlington National Cemetery and he was buried, at his request, in his tallit. Bruckenthal was given a Bronze Star for valor.
Bruckenthal was born on Long Island, but due to his parents' divorce, he was raised in many places around the country. He finally settled in Virginia, where he joined the ROTC in high school. He served as a volunteer fireman and joined the Coast Guard in 1998. A 1000 people attended the memorial service on Long Island a few weeks ago. Attendees included Ric Bruckenthal, Nathan's father and the police chief of Northport; Congressman Steve Israel; and Nathan Bruckenthal's pregnant wife.
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Marine Cpl. DUSTIN SCHRAGE, 20, of Indian Harbor, Florida, died in Iraq on May 6, 2004. While his death is still under investigation, it is believed that he drowned while swimming across a river in the Anbar province during a mission. Schrage, who had been in Iraq for a year, was a member of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force.
Dustin Schrage was born in New York and moved to Florida when he was in elementary school. He graduated from high school in Florida. His mother, Nina, and his three siblings described Dustin to "Florida Today" newspaper as a laid-back 20-year-old who enjoyed video games, punk rock and hanging out with friends and family more than anything else.
His mother said of him: "He was all about a good time. We always thought he would be a stand-up comic." Dustin, she added, had always planned to join a SWAT team after he got out of the Corps, about a year from this summer. But more recently, he told his mother that he wanted a job that didn't require living by an alarm clock. He'd had enough of that in the military.
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Marine Sgt. ALAN D. SHERMAN, a reservist serving with B Company of the 6th Engineer Support Battalion, based in Dover, PA., was killed on June 29, 2004, along with two other soldiers, when a bomb exploded near the front of his convoy. This was his unit's reported second tour of duty in Iraq. Sherman, an Ocean Township, New Jersey resident, was described at his Jewish funeral "as a Marine with a soft heart." He was the father of two young sons.
Despite his divorce, he and his ex-wife remained on good terms and he frequently saw his sons, Joshua and Logan.
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MICHAEL TARLAVSKY, 30, was killed August 12, 2004 during a raid amid the fierce fighting in the Iraqi city of Najaf. He was an army captain with the 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group [Green Berets], based in Fort Campbell, Ky. He died in a hail of small-arms fire as he led Iraqi police trainees in a fight with insurgents who had blown up a school. This was Tarlavsky's second tour-of-duty in Iraq, having spent five months there in the beginning of 2003. He also fought in Afghanistan.
Tarlavsky was born in Latvia, in the former Soviet Union. His family first moved to Israel, and then came to the United States when Michael was 5. They eventually made their home in Clifton, N.J. Michael Tarlavsky was an Eagle Scout and captain of the swim team at Clifton High School. He was an avid marathon runner in recent years.
Michael Tarlavsky always wanted to be a soldier, according to his sister, Elina. He attended Rutgers University on a ROTC scholarship and was later assigned to Korea's DMZ, where among other duties he provided security for Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. ("He bragged most about that [assignment]," his sister told the AP.) Tarvalasky married another army captain in 2002 and settled in Tennessee. His wife gave birth to a son earlier this year.
The "Newark Star-Ledger" reported that Tarlavsky's parents combined Russian and Jewish traditions as they mourned their son: they propped up on their coffee table a photograph of Michael in uniform; a Yartzeit candle; and a shot glass filled to the rim with vodka. Michael's father, Yury, a veteran of the Soviet merchant marine, explained that a shot of vodka is a Russian way of honoring soldiers who have been killed.
Yury Tarlavsky said of his son: "He did his job very good. I'm very proud of my boy for what he did for his country." Michael Tarlavsky was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
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Marine lst Lieutenant ANDREW STERN was killed September 16, 2004 during fighting near Fallujah, Iraq. He was just weeks away from his rotation home. Stern was a member of Bravo Company, 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Regimental Combat Team, 1st Marine Division, based at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California.
His parents, Richard and Ellen, found out about their son's death when they found two Marines in dress uniforms waiting for them as they returned to their Germantown, Tennessee home after Rosh Hashana services.
Funeral services were held at Memphis' Temple Israel and Stern was later buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Besides his parents, he was survived by two younger brothers.
Andrew Stern mostly grew up in Arlington Heights, a Chicago suburb. A childhood friend told a Chicago-area newspaper, "He was an energetic kid, always on the go, the loudest kid on the block," Lowey said. "You always knew when Andy was on the block."
He went to Culver Military Academy in Indiana, graduating in 1998. His rowing coach at Culver, said Stern "was a team player who was concerned about others and wanted to helped them along." Stern spent four years on the rowing team and was a co-captain in his senior year, when he was on the quadruple scull team that won the Midwest Scholastic Rowing Championship. That led to an invitation to the U.S. Rowing Youth Invitational Championship. Stern went on to be captain of the college rowing team at the University of Tennessee.
His family re-located to Germantown, Tennessee when his father had a job transfer. Andrew Stern attended the University of Tennessee, where he joined the Marines, in 2001, through the "Platoon Leaders Corps." He got his officer's commission in December, 2001.
His father told the Associated Press, “He was rambunctious from the get-go. But he became as good a son as there could be. His mother said, "He chose a path that I would not have chosen for him, but I was very proud of him just the same....He was a challenging child. He definitely challenged us. Very active. Kept us very busy, inquisitive, bright. He had a mind of his own. He learned to challenge all of those skills into becoming a wonderful leader/
His mother noted that just before her son shipped out he said that "he appreciated people's prayers for his safety, but added, 'If you're going to pray for me, pray for my platoon. It's very important to me to bring my platoon home.'"
Sadly, Lt. Stern never had a chance to ride a brand new Harley-Davidson motorcycle that was waiting for him at home after his tour in Iraq ended.
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MICHAEL RYAN COHEN, 23, was from Jacobus, Pennsylvania. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Hawaii. Cohen was shot and killed in combat Nov. 22, 2004, in Al Anbar province near Fallujah in Iraq. He was hit by small-arms fire and died before reaching a nearby hospital.
Three hundred people gathered in a York, Pennsylvania funeral parlor for Cohen's funeral, presided over by a rabbi.
After graduating from Dallastown Area High School, Cohen attended York Technical Institute. He loved to fish, play computer games, scuba dive and to roughhouse with the family’s dogs. Because he majored in computer administration and networking at YTI, his family thought he would do something with computers in the military. He trained to be a rifleman in the infantry. “He wanted to jump out of helicopters carrying guns,” his father told an area newspaper.
Michael's father, Dr. David Cohen, spoke at the funeral talked about going scuba diving with his son "before he became one of the few and the proud." He said it was during one of their driving trips that he realized his son had grown up, and that Michael was "someone I could depend on."
His older sister, Melissa, said at the funeral, "Don't take the people you love for granted." She said she learned that lesson the hard way. For most of the past three years, she and her brother weren't close. They didn't call or write each other. But, about two months ago, while her brother was in Iraq, Melissa wrote him an e-mail. She apologized for whatever she'd done to cause the rift between them. He wrote back and apologized too, she said.The siblings exchanged two or three more e-mails after that, and they were enjoying their renewed bond as brother and sister.
His mother, Agnes "Aggie" Cohen, said at the funeral that she initially was angry her son was killed. "I raged against the unfairness," she said. Since that initial reaction, she's been trying to understand what her son was fighting for."Someone has to fight for those who cannot," she said. "Someone has to say, 'Enough. No more.'"
His sister younger Michelle Cohen, 20, said when they were younger, they fought like siblings do, but in later years she depended on him for support and advice. Michael's brother, Aaron, didn't speak.
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Army Specialist DANIEL S. FREEMAN was killed in Afghanistan on April 6, 2005, when the helicopter he was flying in crashed. He was returning from a mission. The crash took the life of 14 other soldiers and three civilian contractors. Flying conditions were described as extremely poor.
Freeman, 20, was a member of the 173rd Airborne Division, an elite unit based in Italy. He is survived by his stepfather, Shmuel Birkin, and his mother, Rebecca Birkin. He is also survived by his brother, Adam, and two grandparents.
Freeman was born in California, but moved to Israel at the age of 2, where he lived on two kibbutzim. He moved with his parents to Cincinnati, Ohio when he was 9 and lived in the Cincinnati area until entering the service.
His family was interviewed by the "American Israelite" newspaper of Cincinnati. They told the Israelite that Daniel attended a Jewish day school and joined the U.S. Army's Early Induction Program while attending Sycamore High School in Blue Ash, Ohio, a Cincinnati suburb. He entered the Army a week after graduation.
One of his high school teachers told the Israelite that Freeman was, "one of the kindest, funniest, most driven kids I have ever had the pleasure to teach. He knew what he wanted to do in life... he made a difference in this world by his presence."
Not long before his death, the Israelite reports, his mother. a hospital maternity nurse, sent him this e-mail:
"It is hard not being part of your life right now, but I know that you are doing your most learning and growing right now, spiritually, mentally and emotionally...So if you have a moment for your mom to share things that you find profound, it will allow me to know how you are doing. I know you are a deep thinker, but not a deep talker, but try and I find your growth the most rewarding thing I could ever expericience.
Daniel Freeman replied:
"What I have experience in the Army is far more profound than anything else in my life. The things that I'm able to deal with would blow most people's minds. I've learned that my mind can be my ally as well as my enemy, and I'm constantly fighting it. This applies both mentally and physically. In my life right now I have many people and personalities that I have to deal with. I had to teach myself how to be a more flexible person when dealing with all of these personalities. In reality, I don't have an option when in combat. Thse are the people fighting to the left and right of me. Physically, I've learned how to push myself to my limits and, once there, continue to go. You'll be amazed your mind will set limits, but how far your body will go. I've run fruther, marched longer and been awake for more days than I ever thought my body could handle.
When I joined the army I was jaded by the thoughts of glory and grandeur. I no longer fight for a country, a flag, or anything patriotic. I fight for my friends who are next to me in combat. I fight to get home. I fight for the simple fact that I refuse to die in a land so far from those who are dearest to me...My biggest fear is not my death. It's teh death of those whose parents and wives I'll have to see suffer. That's why I fight. That's what makes me a solider. That's why I don't question why I go to war. I accept it, clear my head and get my priorities straight. I want you to know that I love you I will see you in a year from now.
Love,
Daniel
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Airman 1st Class ELIZABETH JACOBSON, 21, was killed providing convoy security Sept. 28 near Camp Bucca, Iraq, when the humvee she was riding in was hit by an improvised explosive device.
Jacobson was born in Florida, and raised near Fresno, California. She was assigned to the 17th Security Forces Squadron at Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas. Jacobson had been in the Air Force for two years and had been deployed to Iraq for more than three months. She was initially assigned to a detention camp in Iraq, but volunteered for more dangerous duty.
She is the first female Airman killed in the line of duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
“She was an outstanding Airman who embraced life and took on all the challenges and responsibilities with extraordinary commitment to her country, her comrades and her family,” said Col. Scott Bethel, 17th Training Wing commander at Goodfellow.
As reported by the New York Jewish Week, "The terrorist attacks of 9-11 had motivated Elizabeth Nicole Jacobson, an 11th-grader when the terror attacks occurred, to join the military. 'I told her over two years ago that enlisting after 9-11 meant she would definitely see combat,”'her father, David, recalls. “She said she was prepared for that. She believed that being there [in Iraq] meant not fighting them here.'''
Jacobson had a complicated religious background, like many children of inter-faith families. Her father, David Jacobson, is Jewish, while Elizabeth's mother, Marianne, is not Jewish. Her parents divorced when she was a young child and Elizabeth was baptized and mostly raised Christian. However, her father began a journey to become a much more religious Jew about five years ago and is Orthodox, today.
Her father's Orthodox Judaism greatly interested Elizabeth and, on her own volition, she requested that the word "Jewish" be put on her dog tags before being sent to Iraq.
David Jacobson was touched by this gesture, even though as an Orthodox Jew, he realized his daughter was not Jewish as Jewishness is defined by traditional Jewish law (under traditional Jewish law--one's mother must be Jewish or one must convert to Judaism via an Orthodox recognized conversion. The Reform wing of American Judaism, by contrast, recognizes the children of Jewish fathers as "Jewish," even without a formal conversion, if the child of a Jewish father demonstrates his or her affiliation to the Jewish religion through certain life-cycle events like bar or bat mitzvah.)
One Jewish newspaper quotes David Jacobson and Elizabeth's paternal grandfather as saying that Airman Jacobson had expressed a desire to convert to Orthodox Judaism upon her return to the States. Another Jewish newspaper piece leaves this a bit less clear. It is clear that her father's transformation from a secular Jew to a religious one had impressed and affected Airman Jacobson.
Elizabeth Jacobson was buried in a non-denominational ceremony that incorporated some Jewish traditions--including a plain shroud and plain coffin. Touchingly, David Jacobson added that he said the Jewish prayer for the dead for his daughter---the Talmud, he said, allows a Jewish parent to mourn a non-Jewish child in this way.
At the funeral, Air Force officers presented her father and mother with American flags. Her family also received Elizabeth Jacobson's Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
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