Paulding County Purple Heart Memorial Highway Dedicated in Paulding

State Representative Roy Klopfenstein recently dedicated the entire length of Highway US 24 that traverses through Paulding County as the “Paulding County Purple Heart Memorial Highway,” in honor of those men and women who received the Purple Heart Medal for being wounded or killed in any action while serving in the US military.

The Purple Heart Medal is the oldest military award still given to US military members. The original Purple Heart Medal was established by George Washington, then the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army on 7 August 1782. It is estimated that over 2,000,000 purple heart medals have been issued.

One Purple Heart recipient and two Purple Heart families attended the dedication ceremony, and all were presented with miniature replicas of the official highway sign.

The dedication of US 24 increases the total number of Ohio roads with a Purple Heart designation to six. The other five are interstate highways located in Eastern Ohio. US 24 will be the first non-interstate highway in Ohio to bear this honorable distinction.