Local veterans receive Purple Heart plaques

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - A ceremony of high honor and sacrifice Friday afternoon at a Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post in Yuma.

Two service members received a plaque for their Purple Heart at VFW Post 8242.

“A piece hit me in the shoulder, I was cold, and I was laying like this and it hit me right back here, if it would have been that much higher, I would be dead, or blind in my right eye,” said Bill Clay.

A Purple Heart is one of the highest honors awarded to military members.

“The first one is going to go to Tom Hayes, United States Army, purple heart wounded in combat action during motor attack in April 1969 while serving with special operations group in the republic of Vietnam,” said Jesse Martinez.

The second plaque went to Bill Clay.

“Bill is also a military veteran who served in the U.S. Army Purple Heart, wounded in combat action by motor attack in Vietnam in February of 1968,” said Jesse Martinez, VFW 8242 trustee.

The Purple Heart is awarded to military members who are injured and killed in combat, through an act of terrorism, or by friendly fire.

It acknowledges the physical sacrifice of service to the nation.

“Oh I love it, this is something great, this is something that’s never happened to me before,” said Clay.