Retired Army Capt. Eric Rudberg was awarded a Purple Heart after serving two tours in Iraq. But it’s only now, years later, that he can show that award on his D.C. license plate.
“It was a complex attack. Seven of us were on a dismounted patrol, on a walking patrol,” Rudberg said. “An IED blew up on us.”
Shrapnel hit him in the leg. It wasn’t his only injury.
“And then they drove a truck bomb up to the house that we were living in, blew that up, and so there was a pretty large firefight,” Rudberg said. “During that firefight, out of the 17 of us, 11 of us got injured, but we got evacuated. And we didn’t lose any soldiers that day.”
When Rudberg was applying for a D.C. license plate a few years ago, he asked about a Purple Heart tag.
He was told that, while D.C. had a variety of specialty tags for veterans, including disabled veterans, the District didn’t have the Purple Heart option that other states — including Maryland and Virginia — have.
Rudberg felt it was important for the nation’s capital to have the tags.
“We live here,” Rudberg said. “The power of the government is here. These are the people who decided to send people to combat. But I think it’s important for us to show the cost of war.”
So he emailed all of the members of the D.C. Council.
“That kind of got the ball rolling,” Rudberg said. “And then it was in the spring of ’25, is when the Council members brought the amendment to the board, and then it kind of got going.”
The D.C. Council was quick to approve the new tag. Last week, the Bowser administration unveiled D.C.’s Purple Heart license plate.
“We offer a number of specialty plates to veterans currently, today,” said Gabriel Robinson, director of the D.C. DMV. “But with work from the mayor, the Council, my team here at the DMV and the support of many veterans in the city and around this region, we thought it was best that we also add this additional specialty plate, to honor those who may have made the supreme sacrifice or those who are wounded as well in the line of duty.”
The plate was unveiled on Aug. 8 — the day after Purple Heart Day, which is Aug. 7.
Fittingly, Rudberg was issued the very first tag.
He’s had it less than a day, but says it’s already drawing attention.
“I got my plate yesterday, and already three or four people have stopped me and talked to me about it, asking me what the plate is and how we got it and what it means,” Rudberg said.
“I think it’s fantastic.”
The Purple Heart tag is available to recipients and their surviving spouses. There’s a one-time fee of $10, which goes to the D.C. Department of Veterans Affairs.
from Local – NBC4 Washington https://ift.tt/p3Zs1GM
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