--- 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: 2026-08-19T07:45:47.463Z 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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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Aug 2, 2016 4:40 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Briar Woods High School, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016, in Ashburn, Va. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Briar Woods High School, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016, in Ashburn, Va. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Evan Vucci—AP  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). ```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":"2026-08-19T07:45:47.463Z","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"}}]}] ```