Is this purple heart officially engraved and WWII era or a replacement

**matt0906** · 10-17-2015, 04:16 AM

I was wondering if anyone could tell me if this purple heart is officially engraved of if this is a post war replacement. From my research the marine was killed at Iwo Jima. Thank you for your help.

**Gwar** · 10-17-2015, 04:37 AM

Seems period based on other pics and searches.. G

**AZPhil** · 10-17-2015, 04:41 AM

is it numbered on the edge?

Here is a great site dedicated to the PH
Purple Heart History
It has different engraving techniques that you can compare yours to.

on that site they show this PH awarded to a Marine Corps SSgt. Very similar technique to yours
Paul C Hemmelgarn

Semper Fi
Phil

**Gwar** · 10-17-2015, 05:04 AM

Great post Phil !! G

**Gwar** · 10-17-2015, 05:10 AM

What bothers me is the "First" letter in plain hand writing and the next "Cursive"... Odd ?? Any thoughts ?? G

**AZPhil** · 10-17-2015, 05:50 AM

I'm sorry G but I'm not getting what you mean????
When I think of Cursive, I think of this

Is this purple heart officially engraved and WWII era or a replacement

I'm seeing the use of the first letters of the name and his MI as being larger than the rest of the following letters. But all in the capital print letter form.
Semper Fi
Phil

**Wagriff** · 10-17-2015, 06:16 AM

It's Hand-engraved. Naturally, there will be small deviations. It looks fine to me.

**Gwar** · 10-17-2015, 06:20 AM

Sorry for the confusion... G

**AZPhil** · 10-17-2015, 07:59 AM

OK I gottcha now. You were talking about the letters sent home by SSgt Paul C Hemmelgarn.

I thought you were talking about the engraving style.

I think the letter he sent home prior to capture from wake he used cursive. When he was captured and interned they might of had him print so that "they" could translate/censor it easier. Just a thought.

Semper Fi
Phil

**Wagriff** · 10-17-2015, 08:13 AM

lol Don't feel bad, Phil...I thought the question was on the engraving of the medal as well! And, yes-you are certainly right. The letters from the POW camps were intended to be only in block letters,as the Japanese censors found it very difficult to read all the endlessly different forms of Western handwriting, so they commanded that it be lettered instead.

I shudder to think what the Sarge went through, after being taken prisoner on Wake Island, of all places! In many island fighting scenes, neither side even bothered to Take prisoners at all....I wouldn't have wanted to be in His boots, that's for sure...Poor guy....captured within abit over 1 week's time of War being declared..spent the entire war in a Japanese prison camp(!) only to be killed by an Allied bombing run while recovering from appendicitis surgery just a few months before the End of the war....Talk about terrible luck!