Vietnam War veteran gives Trump his Purple Heart for taking bullet in Butler: ‘You got guts’

A Vietnam War veteran was so moved by Donald Trump’s reaction to the assassination attempt in Butler, Pa., that he gave his Purple Heart to the former president on Friday. 

The former Marine, identified only as Dwight, appeared on stage midway through the Republican presidential nominee’s town hall event in Fayetteville, North Carolina, to present him with the “small token.” 

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who was moderating the event, read a letter Dwight had penned to Trump in the aftermath of the assassination attempt, before the veteran personally handed the 45th president an envelope containing the award. 

“Dear President Trump, watching you during the Butler rally, and you getting back up, both my wife and I gave a sigh of relief as well as a few tears,” read the letter.

“I would be honored if you would accept this small token I received as a young marine in Vietnam,” it continued. “My wife and I both thought it appropriate. God bless you, your family, and the United States of America. Sincerely, Dwight.” 

Trump, upon inspecting the envelope, joked that it was something else. 

“Whoa. Looks like a check,” he quipped. “It’s a check. It’s cash.” 

Luna clarified that the envelope contained Dwight’s Purple Heart, which is presented to service members who have been wounded or killed as a result of enemy action. 

“I couldn’t think of anybody more deserving of a Purple Heart,” Dwight told Trump. 

“You took it. You laid down there. You got back. And the first words out of your mouth was ‘fight, fight, fight,’” the Vietnam vet added. 

Trump, 78, was left bloodied after  20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire during a campaign rally on July 13 – hitting the former president in the ear, leaving two others severely injured and one rally-goer dead. 

Crooks was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper moments after opening fire. 

“You didn’t even have anything to shoot back at him,” Dwight noted. “You got guts.” 

“It was a minor wound, but it was close to being a terrible one,” he added.

“I got very lucky,” Trump responded. “And maybe it wasn’t so much luck. Maybe it is something else, right? Maybe there’s something else up there.” 

Dwight also revealed that the former president wrote a “beautiful letter” back to him and gifted him a challenge coin. 

“I never expected that from the President of the United States,” he said. 

Trump, who on Saturday will return to Butler for the first time since the assassination attempt, called it “a great honor” to receive Dwight’s Purple Heart. 

Earlier in the town hall, Trump ripped Vice President Kamala Harris over the “lousy” federal response to Hurricane Helene. 

“Kamala should be here,” he told residents of the storm-ravaged state. 

“They’re giving you lousy treatment in North Carolina, and we don’t like that,” he added. “So, we’re going to let it be known. And they have to get a lot better because people are not happy.” 

“This is Katrina,” Trump said of the effects of Hurricane Helene and the administration’s response. “They are doing the worst job on a hurricane that any administration has ever done.”  

“What a rotten job they are doing in North Carolina,” he continued. 

Luna later suggested that the Harris-Biden administration has been slow walking assistance for the states devastated by Helene because “It’s red communities that are impacted.”