Joe Biden didn’t award his uncle a Purple Heart while he was vice president

President Joe Biden faces criticism for a story he told at the Delaware Veterans Summit and PACT Act Town Hall on Friday, Dec. 16.

After becoming vice president, Biden claimed to have awarded the Purple Heart to his uncle Frank Biden for military service during World War II at his father’s request. Purple His Heart is an award given to servicemen wounded or killed in action and can be awarded posthumously.

Here are excerpts of Biden’s comments during the event:

“You know, I — my dad said when I was elected vice president, ‘Joey, Uncle Frank fought in the Battle of the Bulge.’ Not because of the Battle of the Bulge. But , he said, “And he got the Purple Heart. And he never got it. He never — he never got it. We will surprise him.

So we got him the Purple Heart. He won it in the Battle of the Bulge. I remember him coming home and me coming out. we had family there.

I said, ‘Uncle Frank, you won this one. And I…’ He said, ‘I don’t want a damn thing.’ He said, “I don’t want that.” I was like, “What’s the matter, Uncle Frank? Others are dead I’m alive I don’t want that

Several Man online Some VERIFY readers have asked the team about the validity of Biden’s story because his uncle died well before Biden was elected vice president. .

Did Joe Biden award his uncle a Purple Heart after becoming Vice President?

No, Joe Biden didn’t award his uncle a Purple Heart after he became Vice President. Frank Biden died in 1999, nearly a decade before Biden was elected Vice President.

Biden made several inaccurate statements at the Dec. 16 event. One of them is that he gifted Purple his heart directly to his uncle Frank after Biden became vice president. But that is not possible.

An obituary published by The Tribune of Scranton, Pennsylvania, states that Biden’s uncle, Frank H. Biden, died on November 28, 1999. The Department of Veterans Affairs also lists the same date of death for Frank H. Biden.

After Biden became Vice President, I couldn’t give my Uncle Frank a Purple Heart. Because he was elected in November 2008, almost ten years after his uncle’s death.

Frank Biden’s obituary states that he was a veteran who served in World War II, but does not include receiving a Purple Heart for his service.

Biden also said his father spoke to him about giving his uncle the award when he was elected vice president.

Biden’s father, Joseph Biden Sr., died on September 2, 2002, more than six years before Joe Biden was elected Vice President, according to his obituary published in The News-Journal of Wilmington, Delaware. He passed away today at the age of 86.

It’s unclear if Biden’s uncle won the Purple Heart. There is no online record of which Frank Biden won the award, but the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor points out that no comprehensive list of winners exists.

In its January 2021 tribute, the National Cemetery Service noted that Frank Biden served in the U.S. Army in July 1941 and was discharged from a hospital in Virginia in July 1945. The post does not mention that Frank Biden received Purple his heart, nor is it included on his gravestone.

The White House and the Department of Veterans Affairs did not respond to requests for comment on President Biden’s recent comments.