Fort Hood shooting victims receive long-delayed Purple Hearts, may still have to fight for benefits

Posted 2015-04-10 17:22 by Grunt Report with 0 comments

Victims of the 2009 Fort Hood terror attack finally received their long-delayed honor on Friday at a Purple Heart ceremony in Texas — though they may have to keep fighting to get military benefits.

Nearly 50 survivors lined up at the ceremony held at Fort Hood on Friday, and all were given either a Purple Heart or Defense of Freedom medal for their injuries. The ceremony was years in the making, as the U.S. government initially described the attack as mere workplace violence, and not terrorism.

But the medal, while long-sought, may be symbolic.

At least one survivor told Fox News ahead of the ceremony that the Army has so far denied him any benefits, and his fellow servicemembers are likely in for a similar struggle.

“It sounds like there’s going to be some more fighting ahead of us with the Army, at least in regards to benefits,” retired Staff Sgt. Shawn Manning, who was shot six times by Maj. Nidal Hasan, told Fox News on Friday. He explained the Army is not defining the injuries as combat-related.

“I think it’s almost unheard of for someone to receive the Purple Heart but not have their injuries classified as combat-related,” Manning said.

Manning said “the fact that you have an Al Qaeda-inspired terrorist attack that we were shot in and that’s not combat related, I think is just ridiculous.” Fox News reported Thursday that Manning was being denied benefits.

In February, the Army, under heavy political pressure by Texas lawmakers, cleared the way for the military and civilian distinctions after the shooting was declared an act of international terrorism and not workplace violence.

The Purple Heart medals are typically awarded for wounds and acts of bravery in a war zone although it can be authorized in other situations including international terrorist attacks against the United States. The Defense of Freedom medal is the civilian equivalent to the Purple Heart.

Thirteen people were killed and more than 30 others wounded in the Nov. 5, 2009 attack by Hasan.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, was convicted in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder. He was sentenced to death.

Following the attack, the lack of recognition for those killed and wounded during Hasan’s rampage angered some of the victims and their families. The Army’s initial refusal to call the Fort Hood attack international terrorism led Congress to include a provision in the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act that required the Department of Defense to review the Fort Hood case for Purple Heart recipients.

Fox News’ Catherine Herridge contributed to this report.