Fort Hood victims move closer to Purple Heart medals

AUSTIN – The medal won't dislodge the slugs still lodged in Shawn Manning's

back and right thigh, or heal the emotional and physical scars left behind by the six bullets that tore through his body.

But for him and other victims of the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, a Purple Heart, he said, will go a long way to recognize the heroics and pain suffered in that attack – the worst ever on a U.S. military base.

"It'll bring a lot of closure to a lot of people," said Manning, who was a staff sergeant at the time of the shooting and today lives near Lacey, Wash. "There are a lot of guys who lost their life that day trying to take down [the shooter] and did some pretty heroic things. They essentially died on a battlefield, even though it was in the United States."

Former Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan shot and killed 13 people and injured more than 30 in a crowded processing center in the Central Texas base during the April 2009 attack. Most of the victims were either just returning from Iraq or Afghanistan or readying to embark to those combat zones. The military never awarded the victims of the shooting a Purple Heart, a recognition typically reserved for those wounded in overseas combat.

Last week, however, Manning and the other victims moved a step closer to capturing the medals. Texas lawmakers, led by Republican Sen. John Cornyn, included a measure that could help bring the medals to Fort Hood victims in the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act. The bill passed the House on Thursday and is headed next to the Senate. If signed into law, the Department of Defense will then review the Fort Hood case for Purple Heart designations.

In a statement, Cornyn called the measure "long-overdue" for victims of the military base attack. "This close-knit community has endured great loss in recent years, and I am pleased we are now one step closer to delivering this important piece of justice to the victims and their families," it read.

Dozens of the victims and their families have been lobbying the military for years for a Purple Heart. Besides the recognition, the medals would unlock much-needed compensation and back pay for those injured in the attack, or the widows and family members of those who died. The military has made exceptions for issuing the medals in the past. Service members killed in the 9/11 attacks, for example, received Purple Hearts even though they weren't overseas. But, so far, the Pentagon has declined to award the Fort Hood victims.

The Pentagon deferred all questions about the Fort Hood case to the Army, which is responsible for issuing the medals to its members. An Army spokeswoman declined to comment because of the pending legislation.

Fort Hood victims greeted last week's initial passing of the bill and measure with guarded optimism. Similar bills had been brought up in Congress before, only to die in committee. Even if the bill is signed into law, it'll then be up to the secretary of defense to review the Fort Hood incident and decide if its victims should receive the medals, said Reed Rubenstein, a Washington attorney representing about 130 victims and their families in a lawsuit over the medals.

"You would expect the secretary of defense to move quickly and correct the injustice in terms of treatment of Fort Hood soldiers and civilians," he said. "But nothing in the conduct of our government the past five years leads me to believe he will. [The victims] are hopeful but very skeptical."

At his trial last year, Hasan said he was acting as a mujahideen – or Islamic holy warrior – when he launched the attack and had made contact with Yemen-based terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki prior to the incident. That testimony should have designated the incident a "terrorist attack" and led to the medals, Rubenstein said. Hasan was found guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced to death.

"From the beginning, our position has been that these soldiers were entitled to Purple Hearts," he said. "What occurred at 9/11 clearly qualified and what occurred at Fort Hood clearly qualifies, too."

Alonzo Lunsford, 48, then a staff sergeant, was shot seven times by Hasan, including in the head, rib cage, stomach and other parts of the torso. It took 10 surgeries and 89 days in hospitals to remove most of the slugs. One remains lodged in his back.

Now on disability retirement in Lillington, N.C., Lunsford said earning a Purple Heart – besides the added income it would bring – would help heal the lingering wounds of the victims.

"It would be a proud moment for me and my family," he said.