How to Fill Out and Submit the Purple Heart Application Form

To apply for a Purple Heart, you gather your medical and service records, complete your branch’s personnel action form, and mail the package to the personnel command that handles awards for your branch. The process is the same whether the wound happened last year or fifty years ago, and next of kin can apply on behalf of a deceased or incapacitated service member. Most cases take between six months and two years to work through review.¹

Confirm the Wound Qualifies

The Purple Heart goes to service members wounded or killed as a result of enemy action while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces after April 5, 1917. Qualifying events under 10 USC 1131 include action against an enemy of the United States, action with an opposing armed force, and injuries from an international terrorist attack recognized by the Secretary of the relevant military department.² The wound must have been serious enough to require treatment by a medical officer. Scrapes, minor bruises, heat injuries, and vehicle accidents unrelated to combat do not qualify.

Friendly fire counts. Under 10 USC 1129, service members killed or wounded by weapon fire while directly engaged in armed conflict qualify even when the fire did not come from the enemy, as long as the wound was not the result of willful misconduct.³

Each branch publishes its own implementing regulation. The Army uses AR 600-8-22, the Navy and Marine Corps use SECNAVINST 1650.1J, and the Air Force and Space Force use DAFI 36-2803.⁴⁵ The core criteria are the same across all of them: enemy-caused wound, treatment by a medical officer, and documentation in an official record.

Concussions and Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries

Concussions and mild TBIs from enemy action can qualify, but the threshold is specific and often misunderstood. The Department of Defense authorizes the award when the service member either lost consciousness for any duration from the concussive event, or when a medical officer determined the member was unfit for full duty for more than 48 hours due to persistent symptoms of brain impairment.⁶

The medical officer’s determination must happen within seven days of the event. A diagnosis weeks or months later that references symptoms not identified in that initial window will not support the award.⁷ If no medical officer was available at the time, the award can still be made if a medical officer later certifies that the injury would have required treatment had one been present.⁶

Gather Your Documents

The review board is not an investigative body. It decides based on what you send. A thin package is the single most common reason applications stall or get bounced back, so pull your evidence together before you touch the form.

The Human Resources Command’s Army template lists the following enclosures, and the other branches expect comparable material:⁸

DD Form 214, the separation document that proves service dates, unit assignments, and discharge status.⁹
Medical records from the date of the injury (SF 600 or equivalent) showing diagnosis and treatment by a medical officer. These are the most important documents in the package.
Signed witness statements from service members who saw the event. The Air Force requires at least two notarized eyewitness statements and will not accept the nominee’s own statement as support.¹⁰
Deployment orders placing the service member in the combat zone at the time of the incident.
A one-page narrative describing the engagement, the enemy activity, and how the wound occurred.

Unit situational reports, ship logs, and after-action reports also help place the service member at the scene and confirm the hostile nature of the event. Books, newspaper clippings, and personal diaries are not official evidence, but you can include them for context.¹⁰

If Records Are Missing

Missing records are common, especially for veterans whose files were affected by the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center. You can request copies using Standard Form 180 or the online eVetRecs system.¹¹¹² If your file may have been in the 1973 fire, include your place of discharge, last unit of assignment, and place of entry to help the search. Recent records are free; older archival files (service that ended 62 or more years ago) carry a flat fee of $25 for files of five pages or fewer and $70 for larger files.¹³

Complete the Application Form

Army veterans and next of kin use DA Form 4187 (Personnel Action). HRC publishes a pre-formatted template that walks you through the fields, with recommended language for the action block: “IAW AR 600-8-22, para 2-8, recommend [Name] to be awarded the Purple Heart for wounds/injuries received in action caused directly by the enemy.”⁸ The other branches have their own personnel action forms.

Whatever form you use, the required information is the same: the service member’s name, rank, and unit at the time of the injury; the date and location of the incident; and a factual description of what happened. Name the operation or location, identify the enemy activity (mortar fire, IED, small arms), describe the wound, and state how it was treated. Vague narratives are the top reason boards send packages back for more information.

Dates on the form should match the dates in your medical records and deployment orders. Even minor discrepancies slow review. Sign the form. For a next-of-kin application, sign and indicate your relationship to the service member.

Where to Send the Package

Each branch routes applications differently. Active-duty service members generally submit through their unit S-1 and chain of command. Veterans and next of kin mail directly to the branch personnel command.

Army

Commander, USAHRC
ATTN: Awards and Decorations Branch (AHRC-PDP-A)
1600 Spearhead Division Avenue
Fort Knox, KY 40121-5408

Email submissions go to usarmy.knox.hrc.mbx.tagd-awards@army.mil.¹⁴

Navy

Navy Personnel Command
PERS-312E
5720 Integrity Drive
Millington, TN 38055-3120¹⁵

Marine Corps

Marine Corps applications are handled separately from the Navy. TBI and concussion claims go to Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps (MMMA), 3280 Russell Road, Quantico, VA 22134-5103. For other wound types, the submission address depends on when and where the injury occurred and may route through U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command at MacDill AFB or Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command at Camp Lejeune.⁷

Air Force and Space Force

Headquarters Air Force Personnel Center
ATTN: AFPC/DPSTTC
550 C Street
Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, TX 78150

You can also email AFPC.DPSTTC.RecognitionProcess@us.af.mil or call (800) 525-0102.¹⁰

What Happens After You Submit

The personnel command logs your package and assigns it a case number. A board of officers who specialize in military awards then reviews the evidence against the branch’s regulatory criteria. They verify that the medical records confirm an enemy-caused wound treated by a medical officer, that service dates and location match the claimed event, and that the narrative is consistent with official historical records.

If the evidence is thin, the board often requests more documentation rather than denying outright. Every round trip for missing documents resets your place in the queue, which is why a complete initial package pays off. Once approved, the service member’s official record is updated, a certificate is issued, and the medal is sent to the veteran or next of kin. The full process usually runs six months to two years, with retroactive requests involving decades-old incidents or fire-damaged records taking the longer end.¹

If Your Application Is Denied

A denial is not final. Each branch has a Board for Correction of Military Records (BCMR), or the Board for Correction of Naval Records (BCNR) for Navy and Marine Corps cases. You appeal using DD Form 149.¹⁶

On the form, you need to show that your record contains either an error (a procedural defect, such as documentation that should have been filed but wasn’t) or an injustice (an unfair outcome, such as a qualifying wound that never got processed in the chaos of combat). Attach the same categories of supporting evidence described above, along with anything new you have found since the denial.

File within three years of discovering the error or injustice. The boards can waive this deadline in the interest of justice.¹⁶ You must exhaust all other administrative correction and appeal procedures before applying to the BCMR. The board can decide on paper without a hearing, though it may grant one if the circumstances call for it.

Replacing an Existing Medal

If the Purple Heart was already awarded and the physical medal is lost, stolen, or damaged, that’s a replacement request, not a new application. Replacements are issued at no charge on a one-time basis to the recipient or the primary next of kin of a deceased recipient.¹⁷ Request one through the National Archives online or by mail to the National Personnel Records Center at 1 Archives Drive, St. Louis, MO 63138. Don’t send money until HRC or the NPRC tells you to.¹⁸

Benefits That Follow the Award

Approval opens several concrete benefits. Purple Heart recipients are assigned to VA health care priority group 3, which speeds enrollment in VA medical services, and they pay no copayments for inpatient or outpatient VA medical care.¹⁹²⁰

All Purple Heart recipients qualify for Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits (Chapter 33). Those who received the award on or after September 11, 2001, and were honorably discharged after any length of service, are also eligible for the Yellow Ribbon Program, which can cover tuition above the GI Bill’s cap.²⁰

Active-duty recipients may be exempt from the VA funding fee on a VA-guaranteed home loan, a fee that otherwise runs into the thousands of dollars. Any Purple Heart recipient receiving VA disability compensation may also qualify for the exemption. Commissary and exchange shopping privileges come with the award as well.²⁰ Many states add benefits such as specialty license plates and property tax exemptions, but those vary widely.

1
Wounded Warrior Regiment. Purple Heart Day: What You Need to Know About Applying for a Purple Heart
2
U.S. Army Human Resources Command. Purple Heart
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1129 – Purple Heart: Members Killed or Wounded in Action by Friendly Fire
4
MyNavy HR. Decorations and Medals (Awards)
5
Air Force Personnel Center. DAFI 36-2803 – Military Decorations and Awards Program
6
The United States Army. DoD Issues Purple Heart Standards for Brain Injury
7
U.S. Marine Corps. Purple Heart Medal – Revised Criteria for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Updated Reclama Submission Addresses
8
U.S. Army Human Resources Command. DA Form 4187 – Personnel Action
9
National Archives. DD Form 214 Discharge Papers and Separation Documents
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Air Force’s Personnel Center. Purple Heart
11
National Archives. Request Military Personnel Records Using Standard Form 180
12
National Archives. eVetRecs
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National Archives. Request Military Service Records
14
U.S. Army Human Resources Command. Purple Heart for Perforated Eardrum
15
National Archives. Where to Contact
16
Department of Defense. DD Form 149 – Application for Correction of Military Record
17
U.S. Army Human Resources Command. How to Request Replacement Medals
18
National Archives. Replace Veterans Medals, Awards, and Decorations
19
Veterans Affairs. VA Priority Groups
20
Veterans Affairs. Purple Heart Day and VA Benefits to Recipients