Marines Receive Purple Heart

Sgt. Adrian Aranda hugs his cousin, Manuel Aranda, after a ceremony at which he and Lance Cpl. Nicholas J. Sovereign, far right, were awarded the Purple Heart on Friday for wounds from a land mine in Afghanistan. The two Marines, members of Camp Pendleton’s 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, were clearing ordnance from the perimeter of Kandahar airport when Cpl. Christopher Chandler, 21, of Aurora, Colo., stepped on the mine. The three Marines are the first to receive the Purple Heart for wounds in the war on terrorism.