Roger L Kitchen, 508th Parachute Regiment Company D, was a corporal at the time he was wounded.

   He was wounded on June 6 1944 just prior to jumping from the C-47 that he was in.  Roger was hit by shrapnel in the forehead and on a right knuckle.  The wounds were minor, and he bandaged himself after landing between the Douve and Merderet rivers in Normandy.

   The Purple Heart was only officially awarded on May 28 1945, nearly a year after the actual event.

   After the war had ended, Kitchen learned that there was a point system being used to determine how soon a man could go home, and that medals counted as points.  He went to an officer who recalled that Roger had been wounded, and that officer saw to it that he was awarded the Purple Heart (and the points as well).