“The Purple Heart is awarded to members of the armed forces of the U.S. who are wounded by an instrument of war in the hands of the enemy and posthumously to the next of kin in the name of those who are killed in action or die of wounds received in action.”

Read a history of this combat decoration.

This particular medal was awarded to the parents of Meldean Fraser, USN, the first serviceman from Cleveland County to be killed in World War II. He was a seaman on the USS Pecos, a fuel ship, which was sunk by the Japanese on March 1, 1942 in the Java Sea.

Photo by Reno Bailey