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Wounded Warriors Saluted at Pentagon

Quiet indoor ceremony honors injured
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 13, 2008 12:19 PM CDT
Wounded Warriors Saluted at Pentagon
The Purple Heart medal. Some Soldiers and Marines wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan take part in a little known private ceremony at the Pentagon - regular parades known as Wounded Warriors Marches.    (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

A poignant and little-known ceremony featuring wounded vets is held privately indoors at the Pentagon every six weeks, reports the Wall Street Journal. It's called the "Wounded Warrior March." Hundreds of Defense Department employees line the corridors of the Pentagon to applaud, cheer, shake hands, or hug servicemen wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

"When these boys came back, they went straight into hospitals and missed out on homecoming ceremonies," an Army officer tells the Journal. "This is a way of giving that back to them." One 22-year-old Marine who lost a leg in Iraq didn't know what all the fuss was about. "I was humbled by it because I didn't do anything special," he said. "I went to Iraq to do a job. I got injured and actually couldn't do it, so why was I getting honored?" (More Iraq stories.)

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