The Military Order of the Purple Heart Service Foundation was disheartened to read the Oct. 13 letter to the editor of Ron Siebels titled “Help wounded combat veterans.” Mr. Siebels is a former treasurer of our organization who resigned in November 2017. In his letter, Mr. Siebels accused the Purple Heart Foundation of “employ( ing) stolen valor tactics against Purple Heart recipients,” and he also accused Alaska’s U.S. senators of not supporting veterans. All of these accusations are false.
The Purple Heart Foundation is proud that, since its inception in 1957, it has granted or otherwise contributed more than $200 million to assist wounded veterans and their families. Mr. Seibels failed to acknowledge the fact that the trademark issues noted in his letter were conclusively resolved in favor of the Foundation in federal court in Washington, D.C. Finally, we are grateful that U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan have joined with us in diligently supporting our nation’s Purple Heart recipients and all veterans over the years.
— Stephen L. Ruckman, Chief Executive Officer, Military Order of the Purple Heart Service Foundation, Inc.
Annandale, Virginia
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