At the rate things are going, Donald Trump is likely to end up with more medals than John Kerry.
Only the other day Trump, who never served in the military, got his second Purple Heart, the military award given to wounded combat veterans and those killed in action.
It came just before Trump triumphantly returned to Butler, PA., Saturday, the site of the first assassination attempt against him that left him bloody but unbowed.
He got the medal when a U.S. Marine Corp Vietnam veteran, identified only as Dwight, appeared on stage during Trump’s town hall appearance in Fayetteville, N.C. Friday to present Trump a “small token,” which happened to be his Purple Heart medal.
It was unofficial award, of course. Trump avoided service in Vietnam, like Bill Clinton and many others did. In Trump’s case it was bone spurs in his feet which won him a medical pass in the draft.
Nevertheless, like other presidents who did not serve in the military, like Clinton, Obama and Joe Biden — yet became commander in chief — so did Trump.
But of the four, Trump is the only one who was shot at and wounded. Kerry was awarded three Purple Hearts and early shipment home from Vietnam, but his military service there is a point of contention.
And while it was the second time a Vietnam War veteran turned over his Purple Heart to Trump — the first was in 2016 when Trump was a candidate — this one had more meaning.
It came on the day before Trump returned to the site where he was shot by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was killed by a Secret Service sharpshooter.
As it was Trump was hit on top of his right ear. Had he not turned his head it would have been blown off.
U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican from Florida presented Dwight to Trump and Dwight gave Trump his Purple Heart medal.
“I couldn’t think of anybody more deserving of a Purple Heart. You took it,” Dwight told Trump in reference to the July assassination attempt on Trump.
“You didn’t even have anything to shoot back at him. You’ve got guts,” Dwight said. “You took it. You laid down there, you got back up, and the first words of your mouth were ‘fight, fight, fight.”
Naturally the crowd cheered.
It could only happen to Trump in this campaign. No one can conceive of a wounded Vietnam U.S. Marine combat veteran turning over their Purple Heart to Kamala Harris or especially to her running mate Tim Walz.
Trump may have avoided the draft during the Vietnam War, but he proved to be a tough president when it came to protecting U.S. interests, killing terrorists and keeping the peace.
He also proved that he is still not only a tough campaigner, but a candidate who can work a crowd as Harris can only dream of doing.
The Purple Heart incident took place the day before Trump’s huge return rally to Butler, which just might have been a turning point in Trump’s campaign.
Who goes back to the place where they have been shot?
The massive crowd, which only Trump can turn out, gave the former president the momentum in his race to return to the White House. He spoke for almost an hour and a half, and nobody left.
With his tribute to firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was killed by Crooks as he protected his family, as well as two other rallygoers who were wounded, the rally began almost like an outdoor religious event with church bells ringing and opera singer Christopher Macchio singing “Ave Maria.”
Yes, Trump did have Elon Musk, who endorsed him, and J.D. Vance at the event. But who brings an opera singer to a campaign rally?
“I will never quit,” Trump told the crowd. “I will never bend. I will never break. I will never yield — not even in the face of death itself.” It was boffo.
The choice is clear. It is between a Purple Heart and a bleeding heart.
Peter Lucas is a veteran political reporter. Email him at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com
.