Purple Heart Day on August 7 commemorates the day in 1782 when General George Washington created the Purple Heart Medal – a military decoration that is awarded to those wounded or killed while serving in the United States Armed Forces. At current estimates about 1.8 million Purple Hearts have been awarded since then.After the end of the American War of Independence, no medals were awarded until 1932, when the medal was revived on the bicentennial anniversary of George Washington's birth. Purple Heart Medals were to be awarded to those wounded or killed while serving in the United States Armed Forces as a result of enemy action on or after April 5, 1917.