Critically wounded military chaplain receives Purple Heart

Published: 2004-07-15

ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) -- Father Timothy Vakoc, a Minnesota native, received a Purple Heart July 14 in his Washington hospital room, where he is recovering from injuries caused by an explosion in Iraq. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., presented Father Vakoc with the military medal, given to soldiers wounded in action, during a ceremony with family members at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The Army chaplain, who has been in and out of a coma for about a month, awoke for a short time during the presentation to take Coleman's hand. "It was a very moving ceremony," Coleman told The Catholic Spirit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis. "It really meant a lot to his family and to me when he opened his eyes and smiled in response to those around him, to our prayers and to the medal he had just been awarded." Coleman said he was able to expedite the presentation of the Purple Heart because of the seriousness of Father Vakoc's head injuries and his unstable condition.

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