A veteran who made headlines by giving his Purple Heart medal to Donald Trump said Wednesday that he did it because he thinks the Republican presidential nominee will “make a good commander in chief.”
“I asked him if he would accept this and remember all the veterans who have fought and died for this country and [those] fighting the war internally, like myself, with post traumatic stress,” retired Army Lt. Col. Louis Dorfman said on Fox News.
Mr. Dorfman, who was wounded in action in Iraq, also defended Mr. Trump for saying that he always wanted a Purple Heart and received it “the easy way.”
“It was easier for him to take it from me than all the people who earned it,” he said. “It’s been taken out of context. He told me backstage how much an honor it was.”
The gift at a campaign rally Tuesday in Ashburn, Virginia, caused a series of flaps, including speculation in the news media that Mr. Dorfman gave the candidate a copy of his Purple Heart medal, which the military presents for being wounded in action.
“It was my real Purple Heart,” confirmed Mr. Dorfman.
He said it wasn’t easy for him to make the decision to give Mr. Trump the medal.
That was something that was very precious to me,” he said. “I thought he was going to make a very good commander in chief and I wanted him to have that medal in his hand to remember all the people who have fought and died for this country.”
“I felt he took it in the manner I gave it,” said Mr. Dorfman.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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