Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9111 in Kendall Park hosted its second annual luncheon for Purple Heart recipients Saturday.
By Charles W. Kim, Managing Editor
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9111 in Kendall Park hosted its second annual luncheon for Purple Heart recipients Saturday.
Ten veterans ranging from World War II to Vietnam enjoyed the annual event and were honored by the post.
The Purple Heart Award initially started out as an award given to enlisted men in the Army under Gen. George Washington for meritorious service.
After dying out for almost 200 years, Gen. Douglas MacArthur reinstated it in 1933 as an award given to those either wounded or killed in combat, according to the Purpleheart.org website.
Some of the veterans from around the region won several of these awards.
One of the recipients attending, Daniel Passafiuel, 90, of Sayreville, enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II and served in a unit that drove from North Africa into Germany.
Mr. Passafieul said he was assigned to the infantry as a rifleman.
”He the guy that has no one in front of him but the enemy,” he said. “(The rifleman) eats off the land and keeps advancing.”
He said that his unit was always on the move by foot.
During the winter in Germany, he said the unit would literally live off of produce like apples and turnips stored near various homes.
”Food was…forget about it,” he said.
He was injured in Germany in 1942.
”It was a shot by the famous German 88 (mortar) gun,” he said. “It was a hell of a lot better than anything we had.”
He said he was hit in the back by shrapnel from the shell.
”It was devastating,” he said.
Others at he event had similar stories including being wounded after the enemy advanced on their position.
Mr. Cipriano said he was honored to recognize the veterans who sacrificed and were injured during their service to the nation.
Brigadier Gen. Robert Karmazin also attended the event, which featured a single empty table with a rose to signify and remember those still missing in action or those, held as prisoners of war.
In addition to this event, the post also holds a special holiday event in the fall with veterans from the Veterans Home in Menlo Park.

