Purple Hearts from WWII

I read an article not long ago that indicated that the Purple Heart medals that have been awarded since World War II were created during the war. In 1945 the US military anticipated as many as a million casualties during what they thought would be an eventual and necessary invasion of Japan. Accordingly they created and stockpiled half a million purple hearts. Then when Japan surrendered on 2 September 1945, they were thankfully not needed, and placed in storage.

Over the intervening years the purple hearts that were issued for wounds received in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and a several other places all came from the stockpile created during World War II. And they still have 120,000 in storage.

Of course that includes the one that was issued to me for wounds received in Vietnam with my name stamped on the back.

Because I questioned the veracity of the article, I conducted my own search, and found the same information in Stars and Stripes, the military's independent newspaper (available online at stripes.com).

http://www.stripes.com/blogs/the-rumor-doctor/the-rumor-doctor-1.104348/are-purple-hearts-from-1945-still-being-awarded-1.116756