A Vietnam veteran gifted Donald Trump his Purple Heart on stage at a campaign event on Friday.
The surprise moment came during a Trump rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The former Marine, who only gave his first name of Dwight, said he was moved to give Trump his medal after watching him survive an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania this summer.
Dwight handed Trump the Purple Heart, which is awarded to U.S. military members who are wounded or killed while serving, after Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna read a letter from the veteran.
“Dear President Trump, watching you during the Butler rally, and you getting back up, both my wife and I gave a sigh of relief as well as a few tears,” he wrote. “I would be honored if you would accept this small token I received as a young Marine in Vietnam.”
you absolutely can't make it up -- a Vietnam vet presents Trump with a Purple Heart he received for his service there (Trump famously avoided serving in Vietnam because of bone spurs) pic.twitter.com/Twx6fTNGWd
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 4, 2024
Dwight added that he thought the award was "appropriate" as Trump was wounded by a bullet fired by would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks. Trump is returning to Butler this weekend for another rally.
At the Fayetteville town hall, the former president joked that it looked like Dwight was handing him money. He had placed his medal in a white envelope.
"Looks like a check,”Trump joked. “It’s cash."
On stage, Dwight told Trump that he "couldn't think of anyone more deserving" of the medal and recalled being inspired by his reaction in the moment.
“You took it. You laid down there. You got back. And the first words out of your mouth was ‘fight, fight, fight,’” Dwight said, noting that it took "guts" to stand back up without a weapon.
Trump said he was "very lucky" and reiterated a recent claim that a higher power kept him alive.
"Maybe it wasn’t so much luck. Maybe it is something else, right?" he said. "Maybe there’s something else up there.”
