Biden Claims He Awarded Purple Heart to Uncle as Vice President. His Uncle Died Years Before He Took Office
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President Biden’s recent claim that he awarded his war hero uncle a Purple Heart during his tenure as vice president is not supported by a timeline of historical events.
At a military veterans event at Delaware’s National Guard headquarters on December 16, Biden said that his uncle fought in World War II and was eligible for the Purple Heart but never received it, Factcheck.org first noted. Once he was elected vice president, Biden claimed that his father encouraged him to give his uncle Frank a Purple Heart. Awarded strictly to service members who were wounded or killed in action, the Purple Heart is the military’s highest commendation.
“You know, I — my dad, when I got elected vice president, he said, ‘Joey, Uncle Frank fought in the Battle of the Bulge.’ He was not feeling very well now — not because of the Battle of the Bulge. But he said, ‘And he won the Purple Heart. And he never received it. He never — he never got it. Do you think you could help him get it? We’ll surprise him,'” Biden said in his speech.
However, Biden’s uncle passed away in 1999 and his father passed away in 2002 — years before he became vice president in 2009.
Purple Hearts can be given posthumously to the recipient’s next of kin. FactCheck.org couldn’t find evidence that Frank Biden received a Purple Heart either while he was alive or after he died. His name does not appear on two major databases of honorees: Traces of War or the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor.
In his address, Biden also gave inaccurate details about when his Uncle Frank enlisted in the Army. Biden claimed he joined a day after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, but records show he actually joined months before the attack, according to Snopes. The site rated Biden’s claim that he gave his uncle the medal “false.”
At 79 years old, Biden has demonstrated signs of mental and physical deterioration, frequently losing his train of thought in public and struggling to recollect certain events and names. He is the oldest president ever sworn in.
National Review has reached out to the White House for comment.
