- November 5, 2024
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The United States Marine Corps seal is prominently displayed on the carpet in a back room in Bob Bey’s Palm Coast home, as awards, medals and photos from his time in the U.S. Marine Corps cover the walls. Among the medals is a Purple Heart, with founder George Washington’s profile on the face of the medal and a gold star on the ribbon, which signifies a second Purple Heart award.
Bey, a 92-year-old veteran, remembers the wartime injuries that earned him his two Purple Hearts like they were yesterday.
It was a freezing morning on the mountains of North Korea on Dec. 6, 1950, when an artillery device exploded and left Bey with 11 small pieces of shrapnel in his legs to this day, as the larger pieces were removed after injury.
While that injury hurt, Bey said it was no match to what happened on Jan. 29, 1951, which earned him his second Purple Heart.
“You didn’t volunteer to get a Purple Heart, but you got it anyway.”
BOB BEY, recipient of two Purple Hearts
Bey was talking on the radio to his battalion commander when a bullet went all the way through his right shoulder, breaking his shoulder blade into three piece. It missed his head by just four inches.
“It stung like the very devil — it really did,” he said. “I am told by one of the lieutenants that was there that it knocked me flat on my butt.”
He was evacuated to a hospital in Japan and then released back to the U.S., as it was then announced that anyone who had two Purple Hearts would not return to combat.
He continued serving by being stationed at the Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and then retired from the Marines in 1970 as a lieutenant colonel.
Bey was pleased when he learned that Florida Governor Rick Scott recently declared August 7 as Florida Purple Heart Day to honor those who were injured or killed during military combat.
“You didn’t volunteer to get a Purple Heart, but you got it anyway,” Bey said. “It’s nice to be remembered by some kind of observance.”
Though his injuries happened over 60 years ago, Bey still feels the effects.
“The surgeon (in Japan) said to me, ‘When you get older, you’re going to have trouble with that shoulder,’” Bey said. “And he was right. It bothers me. It hurts particularly in the cold weather.”
Bey also wears a compression stocking on his right leg because of freeze damage he has due to the temperatures he faced in the Korean War.
Still, he gives back to the community, as he was actively involved in the Flagler County Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America. It was there that Bey met Billy Jones, a now 82-year-old Palm Coast resident.
Jones describes Bey as a dependable and devoted family man. He has known Bey since 1997 and worked with him directly for six years with the MOAA, as Jones is a former president and vice president and Bey is a former treasurer of the military nonprofit.
“Sometimes when people get Purple Hearts, it slows them down later in life,” Jones said. “But I don’t think it slowed (Bey) down after he got out of the military. He’s still a hard-charging guy. And he still wears his uniform sometimes; it makes him look good.”
The two worked together for 10 years with Veterans in the Classroom as they visited schools to encourage patriotism and teach students about veterans around Veterans Day and Memorial Day.
Often donning his Marine Corps uniform, Bey said he and Jones have talked to up to 112 classes over one period of Memorial Day or Veterans Day visitations.
“I think it should be brought to the young people’s attention what the day is and what it’s for,” Bey said. “We try to stimulate the idea of what it is that we did.”
