Nevada Guardsmen haven't gotten promised Purple Hearts

LAS VEGAS - The Nevada National Guard was investigating Tuesday why nine soldiers wounded in Iraq haven't gotten Purple Heart medals they were promised.

The soldiers, members of the Henderson-based 72nd Military Police Company, could have gotten the medals soon after they were wounded, said Air Force 1st Lt. April Conway, spokeswoman for the Nevada National Guard.

"We are working on it, we have been working on it and we will continue to work on it until it's resolved," Conway said Tuesday.

Seven were wounded when their 21Ú2-ton truck was destroyed by a roadside bomb outside Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison in June 2003. An eighth Guard soldier from the unit got a Purple Heart when he was airlifted home after the attack.

Two others from the unit were wounded by shrapnel and suffered ear damage when their Humvee was bombed a few weeks later in Iraq.

Conway said the soldiers were promised the medals. The Nevada Guard's Inspector General office in Reno was investigating why the soldiers had not received the Purple Hearts.

Sgt. Henry Lujan said he hopes for the medal soon.

"They have a saying, 'They pin it when you win it.' I was hoping to get it before I'm discharged," Lujan told the Las Vegas Review-Journal by telephone Monday from Madigan Army Medical Center at Fort Lewis, Wash. Lujan is rehabilitating knee hurt in the truck bombing.

Lujan, his overseas commander, Capt. Troy Armstrong, and 1st Sgt. Daryl Keithley testified in last week's trial in Fort Hood, Texas, of Army Reserve Spc. Charles Graner.

Graner, of the Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company, was convicted of abusing Abu Ghraib detainees. He faces up to 15 years in prison.

The 72nd Military Police Company was replaced by the Maryland unit before the prisoner abuse allegations surfaced.