WASHINGTON – Recommended designs for commemorative Purple Heart coins have been proposed to the Secretary of the Army and once final designs have been selected, they will be struck at the West Point Mint.
Gold, silver and copper-nickel clad coins will be struck in 2022, said U.S. Mint Communications Director T.V. Johnson.
“About 50,000 gold pieces; 400,000 silver pieces, that is the $1 denomination; and 750,000 of the copper-nickel clad half-dollars,” he said. “Something for every collector, those who want to spend big, those who want to spend little; I think we will be able to run the gamut,” he said.
Proceeds from the sales, after production costs, will be donated to the Purple Heart Mission, the not-for-profit organization that supports the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor based in New Windsor, NY.
The recommended obverse design for the Purple Heart Hall of Honor gold $5 coin features a Purple Heart medal with the inscription around A GRATEFUL NATION HONORS AND REMEMBERS.
The recommended reverse design for the $5 coin places George Washington’s signature under the Badge of Military Merit and over a textured stripe. The inscriptions BADGE OF MILITARY MERIT and 1782 round out the design.
The recommended silver dollar obverse design features a Purple Heart medal with the inscription COMBAT WOUNDED & KILLED IN ACTION.
The recommended silver dollar reverse design shows a woman in a World War I helmet as she bandages a wounded soldier on a stretcher. Supporting World War I soldiers were more than 23,000 female nurses serving in the Army and Navy. The recommended reverse was originally submitted paired with a different obverse design.
The recommended copper-nickel clad half dollar obverse shows a figure in military fatigues and combat boots using a pair of crutches. The left leg is amputated from the thigh down. The negative space below the amputated knee shows the missing leg in silhouette. The Purple Heart medal appears behind the figure, and the inscription ALL GAVE SOME sits below the composition. The background field has a subtle flag motif.
The recommended half-dollar reverse design features a young boy holding the dress cap of an enlisted Marine. The silhouette of a Marine in dress blues stands behind him in negative space, emphasizing the loss that affects the families of Purple Heart recipients. The inscription SOME GAVE ALL is featured in the negative space around the boy in the lower half. The background field from the corresponding obverse is repeated.
Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney (D, NY-18) proposed the coins in a multi-year effort to have them approved in Congress and signed by the President.
NEWS STORY PROVIDED BY: Mid Hudson News -www.midhudsonnews.com