USPS to re-issue Purple Heart stamp in August

The Postal Service is issuing the Purple Heart stamp at the First-Class Mail price of 41 cents. The stamp goes on sale in August.

This is the third issue of the Purple Heart defin­itive postage stamp, which was first issued May 30, 2003, in Mount Vernon, VA. The second issuance was May 26, 2006, during the 75th anniversary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The stamp image features a photograph by Ira Wexler of one of two Purple Hearts awarded to James Loftus Fowler of Alexandria, VA. A Lt. Col. in the U.S. Marines, Fowler was serving as a battalion commander when he received the Purple Heart in 1968, following action close to the Ben Hai River in Vietnam.