Ken Friend gets Purple Heart 34 years later

Ken Friend gets
Purple Heart
34 years later

SPOKANE, Washington—Mike Zorn met Ken Friend through Point Man Ministries and invited him to attend the Spokane church.

Mr. Friend was stationed at Da Nang Air Base in Vietnam from March 7, 1967, through March 6, 1968. He arrived at Ton Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon March 6. He and many others spent the night in temporary quarters. That night they were hit with rockets. The next morning several of them were loaded onto a C-130 transport plane and flown to Da Nang.

The night of March 15, Da Nang was hit with 10 rounds of 140mm rockets. Shrapnel hit Mr. Friend’s foot and leg before he entered a hole for cover.

"No one ever told me I qualified for the Purple Heart," Mr. Friend said. "Until a friend, Mike Zorn, saw my medical records and said, You were wounded during an attack. You qualify for the Purple Heart." Mr. Friend wrote to the Air Force, which reviewed his records and said he was entitled to receive the Purple Heart.

PURPLE HEART—Ken Friend (left) receives
a Purple Heart in Spokane, Washington, April 8,
from Rep. George Nethercutt (R-Washington).

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