Are Purple Heart medals engraved?

[Liam]

When a person receives the Purple Heart, is it engraved with his/her name prior to presentation, or is it left to the recipient whether or not to have info. added? I ask because I have seen various fonts/styles used, as well as the use of rank, theatre of service, etc. I have also seen it left with just the "For Military Merit."

[m1ashooter]

Some are some are not. Why I don't know but the guys on the US Militaria Forum have experts who know.

[Vern Humphrey]

When you get a medal, you get a form so you can get it engraved.

[Clark Howard]

If the award is posthumous, the name, etc. is engraved. If the award is simply for a combat wound, it is an option.

[dryheat]

Here's a story about an engraved one.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2019/07/11/purple-heart-found-tucson-goodwill-returned-sailors-family/1687355001/

[Merc]

Here's a story about an engraved one.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2019/07/11/purple-heart-found-tucson-goodwill-returned-sailors-family/1687355001/


Great story. Not all stories like this have a happy ending.

One of my regular Saturday morning routines is going to “estate sales.” In most cases, the parents have died and the descendants are liquidating their belongings. It’s common to see families selling their ancestors’s military medals, flags, uniforms, etc. from WW1 and WW2.

[fguffey]

If the award is simply for a combat wound, it is an option.

I attended the funeral of one of my uncles, he was berried with three. I wondered how simple the wounds were. Any one of his wounds should have got him sent home. At the grave site my dad called us together to explain why no one ever talked the war.

F. Guffey