25 Purple Heart Veterans America Should Never Forget

Chris Kyle

Chris Kyle was the sniper whose life is detailed in the 2014 movie, American Sniper. He was a U.S. Navy SEAL and sniper, known as the "Deadliest Sniper in U.S. History" with 150 kills. He served four tours in the Iraq War and was awarded several commendations for acts of heroism and meritorious service in combat. He was awarded one Silver Star Medal, five Bronze Star Medals with Valor, a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and numerous other medals.

Kyle went to the recruiting office where a Navy recruiter convinced him to try for the SEALs. Initially, Kyle was rejected because of the pins in his arm, but he received an invitation to the Week-24 Basic Underwater Demolition/Sea, Air, Land training at Coronado, CA in 1999. Kyle graduated with class 233 in March 2001.

During four tours of duty in the Iraq War, he was shot twice and survived six separate IED detonations. Kyle was one of the U.S. Military's most effective snipers in Iraq with a large number of confirmed and unconfirmed kills. The Pentagon has officially confirmed more than 150 of Kyle's kills (the previous American record was 109). Because of his track record as a marksman during his deployment to Ramadi, the insurgents nicknamed "The Devil of Ramadi" and put a $20,000 bounty on his head that was later increased to $80,000. They posted signs highlighting the cross on his arm as a means of identifying him.

One November day, Kyle stood watch from a roof while Marines cleared buildings below. Suddenly, insurgents attacked, and the Marines fell back, leaving two wounded men in the street. Kyle and another SEAL Sniper ran down into the road and picked up the Marines, all while under fire. "During the heat of it", Kyle said, "You're not thinking about it. You know you could get hit at any moment, and they'll put another belly button in your forehead, but you just put your head down and go do it.”

Kyle dragged one of the Marines to safety. Tragically, the wounded man died in excruciating pain, and his death would haunt Kyle for years afterward. A few days after the previous incident, Kyle was on another roof when he heard a cacophony of gunfire a few streets over. Kyle descended to the street to investigate. Suddenly, Kyle spotted two sets of Marines pinned down by insurgents. After covering the retreat of the first group, he headed for the second bunch of trapped Americans. This time, he found two Marines and two reporters huddled behind a wall. As Kyle laid down covering fire, the four Americans escaped. He was about to follow when he spied a Marine lieutenant that had been shot in both legs. Kyle reloaded and grabbed the man by his body armor, firing his weapon as he dragged the lieutenant to safety. That's when an insurgent threw a fragmentary grenade, and it exploded against a wall. "Pieces of wall peppered my side," Kyle later said.

By then, the enemy was in pursuit, and Kyle was out of ammunition. The only thing he could do was to sling his rifle, grab the lieutenant with both hands, and run even faster. Eventually, he caught up with escaping Marines, who gave him covering fire. All of the Americans managed to reach safety. The Marine Corps thanked Kyle by awarding him a Bronze Medal with Valor.

In December 2005, Iraq held its first ever free election. Insurgents began kidnapping and executing election officials, and it was feared they would attack voters. The U.S. Army came up with a plan that required snipers to watch over poll booths. Kyle was tasked with protecting the turbulent Haifa Street in Baghdad, where firefights, IED attacks, assassinations, and kidnappings were all routine. In fact, Americans called it "Purple Heart Boulevard". Despite the danger, Kyle and the National Guard took over buildings overlooking the street, and Kyle would set up sniper perches. The insurgents attacked his building while he was on the phone with his wife, Taya, one night. Kyle was trying to reassure his wife when a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) slammed into the wall next to him. Debris stung his face as he dropped the phone and began firing out of the new hole in the wall. Taya heard the entire firefight, listening in until the phone's battery died. Unaware that he hadn't disconnected the call, it was a few days before Kyle called his wife again.

Kyle arrived in Ramadi in April 2006, it had become the new center for the insurgency. Attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces happened daily. Not long after Kyle arrived, he was assigned to watch a road leading to an outpost on the north side of Ramadi. Kyle built a nest in a seven-story building a short distance from his base and settled in for the long haul. That night, a mass of insurgents came streaming down the road. Their plan was to attack the outpost, but Kyle dropped a few of them before they discovered his location. A trio of men with RPGs aimed their weapons at Kyle, but the sniper picked off all three before they could fire!

By then, Kyle had drawn the attention of the entire group of terrorists. Fortunately, the outpost sent Marines to Kyle's aid. Kyle would later write that the attack was well-coordinated, complete with enemy snipers to cover the insurgents. Luckily, he shot two of the sharpshooters. His commanding officer would later say that Kyle "single-handedly thwarted a large-scale attack." Kyle was given a Silver Star for the four months he served in Ramadi. According to the medal citation, Kyle took out 91 confirmed enemy fighters and prevented American and Iraqi casualties on at least 30 different occasions.

While back from his third deployment, Taya (Kyle’s wife) made Kyle promise that he wouldn't sign up again when his enlistment ended in 2009. Then, Kyle and his newly formed Delta Platoon were going to deploy again. Snipers around Iraq were being pulled for a special operation in Sadr City, a town on the outskirts of Baghdad. Kyle's stay in Sadr City became his bloodiest deployment. The insurgents were better armed, and nearly every time they attacked, they did so with RPGs. On the very first night of the operation, Kyle was nearly killed. When Kyle returned from his fourth deployment, Taya would later say that he was a wreck—so was she. 

Kyle was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in 2009 and published his bestselling autobiography American Sniper in 2012. In 2013, Kyle was murdered by Eddie Ray Routh at a shooting range near Chalk Mountain, TX. A former Marine with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Routh was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without parole.