Modernize Military Recognition for Warfare Toxic Exposure Injuries, Diseases, and Death

-The Medal Gap for Hidden Wounds-

I have initiated a Purple Heart petition on Change.org, an online site for political and social change petitions, to provide information and impetus for making change. This petition is to recognize the US Military members who have endured toxic exposures resulting in injuries, diseases, and death. Considered the “Hidden Wounds of War,” many of these wounds remain invisible for years. Below is additional information and a link to the petition to recognize these veterans with the Purple Heart for their war wounds; the injuries, diseases, and death due to toxic exposure in combat.

History of the Purple Heart:

Warfare has changed since President George Washington initiated the Badge of Military Merit on August 7, 1782, awarded for “any singularly meritorious action.” During World War I it was awarded to service members wounded or killed in action. In 1932 the Badge of Military Merit was revised by General Douglas MacArthur, Army Chief of Staff, in honor of President George Washington’s bicentennial birthday. The heart-shaped, gold-colored medal bears Washington’s image and coat of arms with a background of purple symbolizing courage and sacrifice. "FOR MILITARY MERIT" is inscribed on the back.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt expanded the Purple Heart to all military branches in 1942, including Marine Corps, Navy, and Coast Guard, and  posthumous awards for those killed in action on or before December 7, 1941, the Pearl Harbor attack. President Harry Truman later extended eligibility back to April 5, 1917.

The Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH) was created in 1932 to recognize combat-wounded veterans. In 1957, the Military Order of the Purple Heart Foundation (Purple Heart Foundation) was developed as a non-profit organization dedicated to funding services for our nation's veterans. These organizations are not available for all those wounded by modern warfare.

The Purple Heart is considered the award “no one wants.” Yet in modern warfare, many injuries go unrecognized because they are invisible — not appearing for years, yet causing disease, disability, and death. Military members harmed by chemical, biological, and toxic exposures deserve the same honor as those wounded or killed in direct combat. Please consider signing the petition to justly recognize all those injured by war.

My Husband's Story - '“Killed Inaction”

My husband, Curtis V. Dulohery, was killed inaction by the Vietnam War. That's inaction, not in action. Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1965 after the Navy rejected him for flat feet, he served until 1967. He returned home with invisible wounds: PTSD, hypervigilance, and memories of chemicals that burned through boots and poisoned the air. He saw napalm scorch the jungle ahead and drip from the trees while Agent Orange covered everything and seeped into their boots.

When he came home, instead of a hero’s welcome, he was met with swearing, baby-killer taunts, anti-war signs, and being pelted with ripe tomatoes.

Curt became a firefighter and paramedic. I was a nurse. We had two sons, the oldest was 12 and the youngest had just turned 10. We had purchased a 32' travel trailer. He was paying off the house so I could stay home with the boys. It was 28 years after Vietnam when his first heart attack hit — the beginning of 19 years of illness. He had two heart attacks where they gave him less than a 50/50% chance of survival and the cardiac surgeons told me he would "NEVER LIVE FOR TWO YEARS" and to be prepared.

He developed atrial fibrillation, a deep venous thrombus with emboli that clotted off his cardiac stents, and when they were removing the stent embolisms, he had a stroke (a cerebral vascular accident), and they told me he might not make it "off the table" and that if he did, he would never be the same. Curt had been tall, strong, and healthy…and overnight he couldn’t even get up from his chair without blacking out and falling. He couldn’t walk alone…and he would sit in his recliner by the picture window and cry.

Before the military he had been tested at the University of Omaha, Nebraska, and was informed he had a genius IQ (intelligence quotient), and no, he was never the same and initially he had to relearn how to do simple things. Aside from the mentation changes, he developed a Parkinson's tremor of his left side where he couldn't sleep because of the jerking, which was treated with a right-sided deep brain stimulator (DBS), and after a few years he developed a right-sided tremor where he was unable to hold a cup to drink or even feed himself, and so the neurosurgeons inserted a left DBS that unforeseen pushed him right into Parkinson's Disease.

Then he was diagnosed with prostate cancer requiring surgery and hormone therapy. On the last two days he had terrible chest pain and refused to go to the emergency room-he said he didn’t want to go through it all again. He told us he was dying, and we all cried. The nitroglycerine tablets were not working, they just gave him a severe headache. He had oxycodone, and that didn’t touch it, even double dose. I finally begged his local doctor for something stronger and told him Curt refused to come in to the emergency room. The morphine worked. And in the morning, that last day, the only day he asked me not to go to work, I was in the bathroom helping him get washed up when he looked at me, said “Yvette, I…” and died while I lowered him to the tile floor.

We lost the life we planned. We never took another vacation. He never worked again. I wasn't able to stop working and be at home with our sons or with him. It changed him. It changed us. It changed our family. And yet, I believe he would have done it all again, even if he would have known.

We are only one family…and there are numerous other families with many of those having it much worse. Please sign the petition giving the Purple Heart to those who sacrificed for our country. Please acknowledge all who were wounded-even with the “hidden wounds of war.”

The PACT Act

The US Congress signed the PACT Act (Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022) (Public Law 117-168) into law, creating a Congressional Budget Office deficit of $797 billion over a ten year period (2022-2032) and establishing the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund in the support of health care, research, and related benefits and activities. This substantial fiscal support still lacks the recognition our military members deserve. Please…please, if you haven’t already signed the petition to rectify the medal gap of toxic wounds, do so now!

Click on the “Sign Purple Heart Petition Here” button or go to the following link: https://www.change.org/p/modernize-military-recognition-for-warfare-toxic-exposure-injuries-diseases-and-death

Developed: 08/19/2025
Updated 11/17/2025