--- title: Donald Trump Says He Always Wanted A Purple Heart description: Donald Trump said he has always wanted to receive a Purple Heart, awarded to those who were killed or wounded while serving in the military. canonical: https://time.com/4435340/donald-trump-military-purple-heart/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-02T16:40:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-06T09:45:11.859Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Says He Always Wanted A Purple Heart og:description: After a voter handed him a copy of one. og:url: https://time.com/4435340/donald-trump-military-purple-heart/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt764fe2ed6d03f1f3/6988a0d3ab6d77d4346aac4a/donald-trump-ashburn1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Says He Always Wanted A Purple Heart twitter:description: After a voter handed him a copy of one. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt764fe2ed6d03f1f3/6988a0d3ab6d77d4346aac4a/donald-trump-ashburn1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Says He Always Wanted A Purple Heart > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=96bc5d39-56ba-4c2f-9d94-79be070e28b3&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Veteran Gives Trump A "Real" Purple Heart [Watch (HLS stream): Veteran Gives Trump A "Real" Purple Heart](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/J28AmjJ6.m3u8) (1:20)  _Published 2016-08-02. Before his rally in Ashburn, Va., Trump said a veteran gave him his “real” Purple Heart (although a reporter at the event said the man told her it was a copy)._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Aug 2, 2016 4:40 PM UTC  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Aug 2, 2016 4:40 PM UTC Donald Trump said Tuesday that he has always wanted to receive a Purple Heart, a military decoration awarded to those who were wounded or killed while serving in the U.S. military. Before his rally in Ashburn, Va., Trump said a veteran gave him his “real” Purple Heart (although a reporter at the event [said the man told her it was a copy](https://twitter.com/KatyTurNBC/status/760497653109125120)). “I always wanted to get the Purple Heart,” Trump told the crowd, holding it up to show them. “This was much easier.” Trump’s comment came one day after [a New York _Times_ report](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/us/politics/donald-trump-draft-record.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&%5Fr=0) found he received five deferments exempting him from military service in Vietnam: one 1-Y medical deferment for heel spurs and four for education. Trump’s lack of military service has also been in the news recently in light of [his feud with the Khans](http://time.com/4432816/donald-trump-khizr-ghazala-khan/?iid=sr-link3), Muslim [Gold Star parents](http://time.com/4434128/donald-trump-khizr-khan-gold-star-parents/?xid=homepage) who lost their son in Iraq in 2004\. “I think I’ve made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard,” [Trump said](http://time.com/4431997/donald-trump-khizr-khan-muslim-solder/?iid=sr-link1) after father Khizr Kahn said Trump had “sacrificed nothing and no one.” Trump’s Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton pointed to his “sacrifices” comment on Twitter when she responded to the Purple Heart comment. “This from a man who says he’s ‘sacrificed’ for our country,” she said. > [](https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/760507891166085120) Several recent presidential candidates received the Purple Heart—John McCain, John Kerry and Bob Dole—as did John F. Kennedy. Trump is not the only man to run for office who avoided military service during Vietnam; President George W. Bush served in the Air National Guard and [President Bill Clinton signed up for ROTC](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/clinton/etc/draftletter.html) to avoid the draft. In 1997, Trump said on the _Howard Stern Show_ that avoiding sexually transmitted diseases in the dating scene was “my personal Vietnam. I feel like a great and very brave soldier.” He also has said he “always felt that I was in the military,” because he attended a military boarding school, [the New York _Times_ reports](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/09/us/politics/donald-trump-likens-his-schooling-to-military-service-in-book.html). ## Transcript Something very nice just happened to me. A man came up to me, and he handed me his purple heart. [ SOUND ] Now I said to him, [ APPLAUSE ] Is that like the real one, or is that a copy? [ LAUGH ] And he said, that's my real purple heart. I have such confidence in you, and I said, man that's big stuff. I always wanted to get the purple heart, this was much easier. But I tell it was such an honor and maybe I can bring him up on the stage, Lieutenant Colonel Louis Dorfman, I just happen. [ APPLAUSE ] [ APPLAUSE ] [ NOISE ] [ APPLAUSE ] So, I said Lieutenant Coronel, would you like to say something? He goes, no sir. I'd like you to just keep saying what you've been saying. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4435340/donald-trump-military-purple-heart/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4435340/donald-trump-military-purple-heart/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Says He Always Wanted A Purple Heart","datePublished":"2016-08-02T16:40:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-06T09:45:11.859Z","description":"Donald Trump said he has always wanted to receive a Purple Heart, awarded to those who were killed or wounded while serving in the military.","url":"https://time.com/4435340/donald-trump-military-purple-heart/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Military","2016 Election","Virginia"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt764fe2ed6d03f1f3/6988a0d3ab6d77d4346aac4a/donald-trump-ashburn1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt764fe2ed6d03f1f3/6988a0d3ab6d77d4346aac4a/donald-trump-ashburn1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"Donald Trump","creditText":"Evan Vucci—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4435340/donald-trump-military-purple-heart/","name":"Donald Trump Says He Always Wanted A Purple Heart"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Veteran Gives Trump A \"Real\" Purple Heart","description":"Before his rally in Ashburn, Va., Trump said a veteran gave him his “real” Purple Heart (although a reporter at the event said the man told her it was a copy).","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/J28AmjJ6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-08-02T16:53:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/J28AmjJ6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4435340/donald-trump-military-purple-heart/","duration":"PT1M20S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4435340/donald-trump-military-purple-heart/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```