Two Wounded GIs Get Purple Hearts
Two U.S. soldiers wounded in a mine explosion were awarded Purple Hearts on Friday.
“I’m lucky to be alive. I’m happy to be alive. It could have been a whole lot worse,” said 2nd Lt. Robert E. Washburn, 26, of Gardiner, Maine. Doctors amputated the front of his right foot after the explosion Thursday.
Sen. William S. Cohen (R-Maine) pinned the Purple Heart on Washburn in an Army field clinic north of Tuzla.
The other wounded American, 2nd Lt. Graeme R. Parnell, 23, of Albuquerque, N.M., was awarded the medal by Brig. Gen. Stanley F. Cherrie, who lost one of his legs in Vietnam.
Parnell suffered shrapnel wounds in both legs in the blast.
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