Vietnam Veteran Receives Purple Heart 58 Years After Helping Wounded Soldier

A veteran who served in the Vietnam War has received a Purple Heart award, 58 years after serving in the conflict.

Daniel Knote, a 79-year-old who served six years in the Army, was shot in the leg while he ran to help a wounded fellow soldier, Mike Beck, in February 1968. The then 21-year-old Army specialist was supposed to receive the military decoration, which is awarded to service members wounded or killed in action against an enemy. But because of a paperwork mistake, it was not listed in his files for nearly six decades.

This mistake has now been corrected as Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) gave Knote the award in a special ceremony Aug. 7 at a local VFW post in Rocky Point, N.Y., to coincide with National Purple Heart Day, which honors those with the award.

“I don’t consider myself the hero. I did my job,” Knote said at the ceremony, according to Newsday.

“Mike said we’d do it together,” Knote added. “We both made it back. We both got wounded. And the reason he and I went out there was not that I’m any braver than anyone else, but our squad leader said, ‘Dan, I can’t go.’ I said, ‘Sir, what’s the matter?’ He said, ‘I’m going home tomorrow.'”

Post-Vietnam Life

Knote also holds a Bronze Star award.

After leaving the Army, he worked for the Long Island Rail Road for 31 years and then for the U.S. Department of Transportation.

“On Feb. 27, 1968, Daniel Knote moved toward enemy fire to help a wounded fellow soldier, and he was shot in the leg in doing so. He did his duty that day on behalf of our great country,” LaLota said during the ceremony.

“He asked for no recognition. He came home, went to work, raised a family and lived his life. And for 58 years, the paperwork failed to catch up with that sacrifice,” he added.

The Vietnam War lasted between 1954 and 1975. North Vietnam, backed by the USSR and China, fought against South Vietnam, backed by the U.S., which intervened to stop the spread of communism, but withdrew in 1973.

Some 2.7 million U.S. service members served in Vietnam and over 58,000 died in the conflict.

Between 5 and 6 million Vietnam-era veterans are still alive today.

Last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth awarded 50 U.S. service members medals in recognition of their work in securing the U.S.-Mexico Border.

The Mexican Border Defense Medal was made in 2025 and is a replica of the Mexican Border Service Medal, which was first issued in 1918.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) honored 49 veterans of the Revolutionary War in a series of ceremonies that came as part of a wider effort to commemorate the U.S.’s 250th anniversary.