MOAA: Legacy of the Purple Heart Hits the Road

The conflict in Vietnam had been raging for about a decade when George Stavropoulos enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He deployed to the war zone on April 23, 1967, and set out on his first patrol the next day.

“I was getting ready to go out on a search of a village,” Stavropoulos said. “I was scared to death, like anybody else was. I went out on that patrol, did the village sweep, didn’t see anything, didn’t find anything, went back to the landing zone to wait for the helicopters to ... take us back to base camp.

“And that’s when a sniper fired one round, and it went through my leg.”

The military found Stavropoulos, pictured, eligible for the Purple Heart award, but he turned it down.

CLICK HERE to read the full article from the August 2026 issue of Military Officer magazine.