Purple Heart with Ribbon

With the issuance in 2011 of the Purple Heart with Ribbon stamp, the U.S. Postal Service again honors the sacrifices of the men and women who serve in the U.S. military. The Purple Heart is awarded in the name of the President of the United States to members of the U.S. military who have been wounded or killed in action.

This new stamp features a photograph taken by Ira Wexler of Braddock Heights, Maryland, of the Purple Heart medal awarded during World War II to 1st Lieutenant Arthur J. Rubin (1917-1978). Rubin, a native of the Bronx, New York, began his military service with the U.S. Army in May 1943. He was injured twice in 1944—on July 6 and July 10—during military operations near Sainteny, a village in the Normandy region of France and was awarded a Purple Heart and an Oak Leaf Cluster to the Purple Heart. On July 8, 1944, for gallantry in action during a fierce German counter-attack, he received a Silver Star. In February 1946, Rubin returned to civilian life. Upon his death in December 1978, Rubin was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.

In 2003, the Postal Service issued its first Purple Heart stamp. It featured a photograph, also taken by Wexler, of a Purple Heart awarded to Lt. Colonel James Loftus Fowler (USMC) in 1968 following an action on the border between North and South Vietnam.

The Purple Heart with Ribbon stamp is being issued as a Forever® stamp. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate.