NEW WINDSOR – Two veterans received Purple Hearts as its namesake Hall of Honor celebrated the 80th Anniversary of Temple Hill Day. On May 28, 1932, 138 World War I veterans were awarded with the Purple Heart at that same site in New Windsor, which was preserved as a shrine for the award. Monday's recipients were Ernest Martinez, a Vietnam War vet, and Richard Gerbeth, who served in Iraq.

Martinez was a tactical operations specialist in February of 1968 when his brigade's base camp in Tan An was assaulted by rocket and mortal fire. Many were killed and injured during the barrage, but Martinez ran 200 yards to the camp's aid station to get a med kit, then into the heaviest fighting areas to tend to the wounded.

An hour and a half after Martinez was upended by a rocket, he was ordered to stop administering aid and get himself treated. After receiving his Purple Heart, Martinez devoted it to all the other veterans there, asking them to stand to their feet.

"Look around, folks. These are people that you know. They've got stories; ask them. They're heroes," Martinez said as his voice broke.

On November 16, 2004, Sergeant Richard Gerbeth was injured at a traffic control checkpoint during Operation Iraqi Freedom in Fallujah. His platoon was disarming a group of insurgents near a fuel depot when they were ambushed by rocket and mortar fire. Fortunately, there were no casualties, but he and one other soldier were injured.

"It helps with a lot of closure, because since the military changed the diagnosis criteria for traumatic brain injury in 2011 myself and several others I know realized we're eligible [for a Purple Heart]," said Gerbeth. With the support of Congresswoman Nan Hayworth and his CO, Gerbeth put together a packet for the Army review board, which made a favorable decision in light of the medical records.

The ceremony took place right outside the New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site, where General George Washington found winter recluse for his soldiers near the end of the Revolutionary War in 1782.

Guests were treated to patriotic anthems from the drum lines and blaring trumpets of the US Army Hellcats and the ceremonial firing of an 18th century cannon by the 2nd Continental Artillery.

The original article published by Mid-Hudson News can be found here.