About This Stamp
The U.S. Postal Service continues to honor the sacrifices of the men and women who serve in the U.S. military with the issuance of the Purple Heart with Ribbon stamp that depicts the medal suspended from its purple and white ribbon. The Purple Heart is awarded in the name of the President of the United States to members of the U.S. military who have been wounded or killed in action. According to the Military Order of the Purple Heart, an organization for combat-wounded veterans, the medal is "the oldest military decoration in the world in present use and the first award made available to a common soldier."
Established by General George Washington during the Revolutionary War, the badge of distinction for meritorious action — a heart made of purple cloth — was discontinued after the war. In 1932, on the 200th anniversary of Washington’s birth, the decoration was reinstated and redesigned as a purple heart of metal bordered by gold, suspended from a purple and white ribbon. In the center of the medal is a profile bust of George Washington beneath his family coat of arms.
This new Purple Heart stamp design features a photograph taken by Ira Wexler of a Purple Heart medal awarded during World War II. Art director William J. Gicker worked with designer Jennifer Arnold on this project.
The Purple Heart with Ribbon stamp is being issued in panes of 20 self-adhesive Forever® stamps. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate.
Stamp Art Director
William J. Gicker
Stamp Artist
Ira Wexler
Ira Wexler, an award-winning advertising photographer, has been creating compelling images for more than forty years. A native of the Jersey Shore, Wexler has lived in the Washington, D.C. area since the early 1970s, working with clients such as Citibank, Coca-Cola, Exxon, Hilton Hotels, GlaxoSmithKline, Hewlett-Packard, Miller Beer, and McDonald’s. Prior to establishing his studio, Wexler was personal photographer to guitarist and singer-songwriter Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills and Nash.
Founding president of the D.C. chapter of the American Society of Media Photographers and a national board member, Wexler is the author of The Business of Commercial Photography (Amphoto Books, New York) and is a frequent college lecturer.
Wexler's photographs appear on the Teddy Bear (1998), Purple Heart (2003), Hanukkah (2009), Purple Heart with Ribbon (2011), and Purple Heart Medal (2012, 2014, 2019) stamps.
Wexler lives on a mountaintop in Maryland near Camp David with his wife, Paula, and their three pugs.