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Staff Sergeant John D. Martek Purple Heart Restoration Act
To provide for the awarding of the Purple Heart to certain veterans who experienced a traumatic brain injury, and for other purposes.
Summary
The Staff Sergeant John D. Martek Purple Heart Restoration Act would allow the Department of Defense to award the Purple Heart to veterans who experienced a traumatic brain injury caused by enemy action on or after December 7, 1941. Eligible veterans must either have a service-connected disability from the traumatic brain injury, as determined by the Department of Veterans Affairs, or have military records documenting the injury. Each branch of the military would be required to establish a process for veterans to apply for the Purple Heart under this provision. The bill would authorize the awarding of Purple Hearts to qualifying veterans regardless of how long ago their traumatic brain injury occurred.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
Actions (2)
- Apr 8, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services. · house
- Apr 8, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
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Text versions (1)
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Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 8, 2025
Mr. Kennedy of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services
A BILL
To provide for the awarding of the Purple Heart to certain veterans who experienced a traumatic brain injury, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Staff Sergeant John D. Martek Purple Heart Restoration Act”.
SEC. 2. AWARDING OF PURPLE HEART TO CERTAIN VETERANS WHO EXPERIENCED A TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY.
Chapter 57 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1129a the following new section: “Sec. 1129b. Purple Heart: certain veterans who experienced a traumatic brain injury
“(a) In General.—For purposes of the award of the Purple Heart, the Secretary concerned shall treat a veteran described in subsection
(b) in the same manner as a member of the Armed Forces who is killed or wounded in action as the result of an act of an enemy of the United States.
“(b) Veteran Described.—A veteran described in this subsection is a veteran—
“(1) who experienced a traumatic brain injury while a member of the Armed Forces that is attributable to an act of an enemy of the United States that occurred on or after December 7, 1941; and
“(2)(A) who has a service-connected disability attributable to such traumatic brain injury, as determined by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or
“(B) with respect to whom there is a military record that demonstrates the occurrence of such traumatic brain injury.
“(c) Award Process.—Each Secretary concerned shall—
“(1) establish a process for persons to submit applications for the awarding of the Purple Heart under this section; and
“(2) award the Purple Heart to each person who submits an application that demonstrates the person is a veteran described in subsection (b), without regard to the date on which the veteran experienced the traumatic brain injury that is described in the application.
“(d) Definitions.—In this section, the terms ‘service-connected’ and ‘veteran’ have the meaning given the terms in section 101 of title 38.”. <all>
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