This morning, I heard a radio report about someone who was upset that those military members who were killed or wounded in the Pentagon attack are receiving the Purple Heart. The person, whose name I didn't catch, complained that giving these people the Purple Heart demeaned the medal. The Purple Heart is for wounds received in combat. He felt the attack on the Pentagon didn't qualify.

I guess by this guy's thinking, those killed or wounded at Pearl Harbor should not have received the Purple Heart, either. The Pentagon attack was part of the opening strikes in the war. It was as much an act of war as Pearl Harbor with the exception that it wasn't launched by a nation-state.