Jacob Hirsch

Fighters For Fighters

4th Social Justice Blog Post

Skype Interview with Patricia McCormick on Her Book “Purple Heart”, Tuesday, January 20th, 2015

On Tuesday January 20th we were lucky enough to schedule a skype call with Patricia McCormick, Author of “Purple Heart” and many other books. “Purple Heart” is a realistic-fiction novel about when Private Matt Duffy wakes up in an army hospital in Iraq, he’s honored with a Purple Heart. But he doesn’t feel like a hero.There’s a memory that haunts him: an image of a young Iraqi boy as a bullet hits his chest. Matt can’t shake the feeling that he was somehow involved in his death. But because of a head injury he sustained just moments after the boy was shot, Matt can’t quite put all the pieces together.Eventually Matt is sent back into combat with his squad—Justin, Wolf, and Charlene—the soldiers who have become his family during his time in Iraq. He just wants to go back to being the soldier he once was. But he sees potential threats everywhere and lives in fear of not being able to pull the trigger when the time comes. In combat there is no black-and-white, and Matt soon discovers that the notion of who is guilty is very complicated indeed.

 

When we interviewed Patricia McCormick about her book she was very connect to the story. I think she felt this strong connection because her Husband was an Iraq Veteran. She said she got a lot of her information from him and thats why the book was so realistic and powerful.  She said her husband was her biggest inspiration to write the book (Purple Heart) because she felt that people didn’t respect veterans. This is where we make a connection, this is what were doing we know we can’t change the world in a couple of months we just need to make sure people know the facts about veterans and that will initiate the change.