HEWITT The Hewitt Post Office is offering the Purple Heart Stamp to honor veterans. As Veterans Day approaches, this commemorative stamp will be available for purchase. Here are some facts about the Purple Heart: The Purple Heart is awarded in the name of the president to members of the U.S. military who have been wounded in combat or to the next of kin of those killed in action. According to the Military Order of the Purple Heart, an organization of wounded veterans, the medal is “the oldest military decoration in the world in present use and the first award made available to the common soldier.” In 1782, during the Revolutionary War, General George Washington issued an order creating a “badge of distinction” for meritorious action. Known as the Badge of Military Merit, the award was distinctive because it was available to the lower ranks at a time when only officers were eligible for decoration in European armies. “The road to glory in a patriot army,” Washington wrote, “is thus open to all.” The stamp image features a photograph by Ira Wexler of one of two Purple Hearts awarded to Lt. Colonel James Loftus Fowler U.S. Marines. He was serving as battalion commander of the Third Battalion, Fourth Marines, when he received this Purple Heart in 1968, following an action close to the Ben Hai River on the border of North and South Vietnam. The stamp was first unveiled at Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, La., on April 26, 2003.