Bend is Oregon’s newest ‘Purple Heart City’

Bend was formally dedicated as a Purple Heart City on Saturday during a special ceremony at the Bend Heroes Memorial at Brooks Park.

The program featured unveiling of a Purple Heart City sign by two World War II Purple Heart veterans, assisted by nine recipients from the Vietnam War and others from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The city’s Purple Heart City proclamation, a Purple Heart poem and the history of the Purple Heart were read to an audience of 100 on a beautiful Saturday morning, said Bend veterans activist Dick Tobiason, chairman of the Bend Heroes Foundation..

Five Purple Heart City signs to be installed by ODOT at Bend’s city limits over the next two weeks were sponsored by American Legion Post 4, the Marines Corps League, three WWII veterans and the son of a WWII Purple Heart recipient.

This project was sponsored by Bend Heroes Foundation, and no taxpayer funds were used, Tobiason said.

The Bend Band of Brothers installed the flags for Saturday’s event at the Bend Heroes Memorial and on the Veterans Memorial Bridge.

Bend is now one of Oregon’s nine Purple Heart Cities, along with Albany, Medford, Redmond, Prineville, Salem, La Pine, Madras and Beaverton, Tobiason said.

One of the major objectives of the congressionally chartered Military Order of the Purple Heart is to honor veterans who lost their lives or were wounded during combat since WWI with Purple Heart cities, counties, states and trails, said veterans activist Dick Tobiason, chairman of the Bend Heroes Foundation.

There are over 900 such locations across the nation honoring the 1.6 million Purple Heart recipients. The Purple Heart award was originally established by General George Washington as the Badge of Merit and is our nation’s oldest military medal.

A total of 110 men and one woman from Bend have made the supreme sacrifice during war from WWI to the present. Their names are engraved on the granite Veterans Peace Monument at the Bend Heroes Memorial.

For each veteran who lost his or her life, there are between 2.3 (WII) and 9.6 (Iraq/Afghanistan) more who were wounded during combat. The monument honors about 450 Bend veterans who were eligible for the Purple Heart award.

To learn more about the Military Order of the Purple Heart, click here.