Career soldier, combat medic receives delayed Purple Heart for injuries during Vietnam War
Career Army veteran Joseph Leuze of Glendale Heights learned in 1977 his uniform was missing a Purple Heart medal he’d apparently been awarded for injuries suffered years earlier in Vietnam.
The 73-year-old received that long-delayed medal from Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi in Schaumburg Friday, but still isn’t entirely certain which of his numerous wounds it might be for.
“We got rocketed several times in Vietnam,” he said. “I had some shrapnel in my leg and back. I suffered a broken arm and had a cast when I went home. I had to do a physical before I retired and they couldn’t find my medical records.”
Krishnamoorthi said the Purple Heart is specifically for injuries but doesn’t do full justice to what soldiers like Leuze — who retired at the rank of Sergeant First Class — endured.
“I can tell, just listening to you, you sacrificed for your country,” Krishnamoorthi said. “You served your country very well for many years. On behalf of a very grateful country, thank you for your service.”
During a combined 35 years in the U.S. Army, Leuze spent 17 as a military police officer and 17 as a combat medic after starting his service in 1970 as a weapons specialist in Vietnam.
His combat deployments also included Desert Storm in the early 1990s, and Afghanistan after 9/11.
“I’d still be doing it if they let me, but they say I’m too broke,” he joked.
He left the Army for long enough in the late ’70s to meet and marry his wife Marilyn, with whom he has three children and three grandchildren. But he later felt drawn back to it.
“I just missed it,” Leuze said. “Military, to my mind, is not a job, it’s a calling. It’s the worst fun you can ever have.”
Among his misadventures over three and a half decades was being in a rollover accident in Afghanistan. In a moment of seriousness, he acknowledges that the injuries themselves could play a role in his less than perfect memory of them all.
“My brain is scrambled, I’ll admit it,” he said. “Remembering everything I should remember is a bit difficult.”
His learning of the Purple Heart 48 years ago never inspired him to go on a quest for it. But his casual mention of it while attending an event at Krishnamoorthi’s office for the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War in the spring led to Friday’s receipt of it.
“As soon as you told us what had transpired, we went to work,” Krishnamoorthi said, crediting the members of his staff who’d led the charge.
“I’m grateful you were able to find it and get it taken care of,” Leuze replied.
Among Leuze’s other military honors is the Bronze Star.