BATON ROUGE — August 7 is National Purple Heart Day, a solemn occasion dedicated to honoring the men and women wounded or killed while serving in the U.S. military.

Members of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Chapter 177 in Baton Rouge, made up mostly of Vietnam veterans, gathered to commemorate the day. They were led by Commander Jason Sedotal, a veteran wounded in Iraq in 2004.

Sedotal, like many who’ve earned the medal, says the significance of the honor wasn’t immediately clear when it was first awarded.

“We didn’t realize it was such a big deal the day we were awarded the award,” Sedotal said. “Yeah, we were injured, but our brothers were still out there fighting, so we didn’t look at it as such a big deal.”

The Purple Heart is awarded to U.S. military members wounded or

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