Quick Hit:

President Donald Trump hosted nearly 100 Purple Heart recipients at the White House on Thursday for National Purple Heart Day, including three veterans who gave him their medals after his first attempted assassination. Trump thanked them for their courage and sacrifice, calling the gesture “a great honor,” and shared stories of battlefield heroism.

Key Details:

• Thursday’s East Room ceremony brought together recipients from across the country, along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine.
• Trump honored three veterans who had sent him their Purple Hearts after he was wounded in Butler in July 2024, saying, “You went through a lot more than I did, and I appreciate it very much.”
• The president also highlighted acts of valor, including Army Spc. Kevin Jensen, who was badly burned while rescuing Capt. Sam Brown from a burning Humvee in Afghanistan.

Diving Deeper:

President Donald Trump marked National Purple Heart Day on Thursday by welcoming nearly 100 recipients of the nation’s oldest military award to the White House, offering praise, gratitude, and stories of battlefield courage. Speaking in the East Room, Trump opened by recognizing the veterans and their families, telling them they had his “everlasting thanks.”

The president reserved special remarks for three Purple Heart recipients who had given him their medals in the wake of the 2024 Butler, Pennsylvania rally shooting, when a bullet grazed his right ear just days before the Republican National Convention. “What a great honor to get those Purple Hearts,” Trump said. “I guess, in a certain way, it wasn’t that easy for me either, when you think of it. But you went through a lot more than I did, and I appreciate it very much.”

According to the White House, some of those same veterans later attended Trump campaign stops so he could return the medals in person.

The event also included senior defense and administration leaders such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, and Marine veteran Chris LaCivita, Trump’s former campaign co-manager and a Purple Heart recipient himself.

Trump used the occasion to recount harrowing combat rescues, such as that of Army Spc. Kevin Jensen, whose Humvee was destroyed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in 2008. Despite suffering severe burns, Jensen pulled Capt. Sam Brown from the flames. “He flew 10 feet up in the air, exploded in flames… Despite the agony, he selflessly ran to the aid of his platoon leader,” Trump said.

The president also revisited a major decision from his first term — the 2020 drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, whom he called “father of the roadside bomb.” With a grin, Trump asked the crowd, “Where is Soleimani? Where is he?” drawing laughter from the room.

National Purple Heart Day, observed annually on Aug. 7, honors service members wounded or killed in enemy action or as a result of terrorism. Since its creation in 1782, more than 1.8 million medals have been awarded, according to the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor.