Gohmert Attends Fort Hood Purple Heart Ceremony

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert of Tyler was on hand for today’s ceremony at Ft. Hood, where 45 Purple Heart and Defense of Freedom medals have been presented to soldiers and others who were shot by former Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan in 2009. Gohmert released the following statement regarding the ceremony:

“This week has been years late in coming; but, I am so thrilled to see that after years of complaining to the military and this administration, we will finally see the proper honor and medical support provided for the 32 who were injured and proper military honor for the thirteen American patriots who were brutally murdered on November 5, 2009 in Fort Hood, Texas.

“It has been tragic that this nation’s military leadership clear to the top has denied these heroes what was properly theirs for over five years. The administration had the authority but did not have the will to provide what was sorely needed and properly due to those who were murdered and maimed.

“It is a shame that it took Congress having to put language in a bill to force the Army to do right by those who were victims of this act of war against our military on a military installation. It is time that these men and women were acknowledged and honored for their acts of bravery on that fateful day – in the line of evil fire. Only now will those who left the service after being wounded be provided what has been needed for them all along, though it is already too late for at least one.

“After all the evidence establishing the act of war against our military by a religious radical killing in the same name as those who have killed our military in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is abhorrent that the Obama Administration classified this act of terrorism as ‘workplace violence.’ The patriots who defend the United States and their families should be treated with the utmost respect and dignity, rather than cast aside as if someone had accidentally bumped into them at the office. Major Hasan committed the act in the name of religious war against our American military, and it’s good to see that finally admitted today.

“This ceremony is a monumental measure toward closure and assuaging the mental and emotional brutality inflicted on our military in the place of their own refuge. Military members, in the line of fire that day, should be properly recognized for their sacrifice, and I am honored to attend as a witness and representative of the American people to see this act of sacred propriety is finally provided to our heroes.”