Thu, Oct 9, 2008 (2:06 a.m.)

The Purple Heart is such an esteemed award that Congress chartered a veterans service organization, the Military Order of the Purple Heart of the USA, that is dedicated to those brave American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who were wounded in action. In cases where members of the armed forces were killed in action or later died as a result of combat wounds, the award is issued posthumously to the next of kin.

The Springfield, Va., organization says on its Web site that the Purple Heart is “the oldest military decoration in the world in present use and the first American award made available to the common soldier.”

Not everyone who is deserving has received the award, though.

The Defense Department announced Monday that Purple Hearts may now be awarded posthumously in the names of prisoners of war who died in captivity since Pearl Harbor was bombed by Japanese forces Dec. 7, 1941. Before this long-overdue shift in Pentagon policy, the awards were denied to POWs who died in captivity if it could not be proved they lost their lives as the result of enemy action.

The Associated Press reported that the new policy could result in the issuance of an estimated 17,000 additional Purple Hearts.

It defies common sense to think most POWs who died while in enemy hands did so of natural causes. It is far more likely that they lost their lives through a combination of torture, starvation, disease and untreated combat wounds.

The Defense Department came to its senses when it stated that it is now presumed that armed services members who died in captivity did so as the result of enemy action, “unless compelling evidence is presented to the contrary.”

It is about time that the troops who lost their lives while in captivity get the recognition they deserve as reflected by the Purple Heart.