When Adam Jackson suffered a shrapnel wound to his hand in firefight in Afghanistan in 2008, he thought he would receive a Purple Heart for his sacrifice for his county. But that didn’t happen, until Monday.
But as time passed Jackson, 41 and a Wallingford resident, lost hope as paper work was lost, logistical issues were raised and he dealt with the illness of his mother.
“I stopped pursuing it,” he said, following a ceremony at the State Armory in Hartford, where he was awarded the medal by US Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
Jackson, currently a master sergeant for the 439th Contingency Response Flight at Westover Air Reserve Base, Massachusetts. Jackson has served in both the U.S. Army National Guard and currently in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. His career includes deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom as a fire support specialist and various roles in aircraft maintenance and leadership positions.
According to Blumenthal, Jackson suffered his injuries on June 4, 2008 when he was part of a three vehicle caravan that was attacked with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades from eight different location over a 45 minute period.
“That’s no fun,” Blumenthal said at the ceremony that was also attended by about a dozen of Jackson’s fellow servicemen Monday.
Blumenthal, a veteran and ranking member of the Veterans Affairs Committee and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, acknowledged at the presentation that the Department of Defense did not give Jackson his due reward for his service.
“The pentagon simply didn’t get around to it,” said Blumenthal, who acknowledged that he stepped in to right a wrong. “We know our military sometimes drops the ball.”
During brief remarks at the armory, Jackson said his physical wounds healed long ago, but he was still concerned for his fellow veterans about unseen wounds such as PTSD and injuries suffered in burn pits and that he was thankful for the senator’s and other service-members support.
Retired major Daniel M. Eddinger, commander of region 1 of the Military Order of the Purple Heart organization, welcomed Jackson to a club he said no one volunteers to join.
“It’s not for honor. It’s for a grateful appreciation of what you did for your country,” Eddinger said.
Following the ceremony, Jackson, whose spouse is a local TV meteorologist who recently reached out to Blumenthal about the issue, was asked what advice he would give to anyone else in his situation.
“Reach out to your local senator right away,” Jackson said.
___
© 2025 Journal Inquirer
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
