WWII, Korean War POWs honored with ‘overdue' Purple Hearts

(NECN: John Moroney, Boscawen, N.H.) – Families of those who died in captivity more than 60 years ago during Word War II and the Korean War were honored with Purple Hearts in Boscawen, New Hampshire on Saturday. Ivan Richard’s brother Elmer died while in a POW camp. “We don’t know exactly just when he was captured,” Richard said. “but he died in a prison camp in North Korea. Ironically, he died on my birthday, the second of December.” Sixty-one POWs from New Hampshire were recognized on Saturday as Purple Heart recipients. Family members came from around the country to accept the awards. Those who died as POWs did not qualify for the Purple Heart, but now any prisoner of war who died in captivity after the attack on Pearl Harbor qualifies. “It’s way long overdue,” Robert Jones said. “The POW-MIA issue, those involved in it, “Let us not forget” is the code we live by. We’re not walking away from this.” The families all received Purple Heart certificates, with the actual medals expected to be distributed in a couple of months. NECN’s John Moroney reports.