On This Date in Minnesota History: December 22

December 22, 2006 – President George W. Bush awarded Vadnais Heights native Sgt. John Kriesel the Purple Heart while Kriesel was recovering from injuries suffered in Operation Iraqi Freedom at Walter Reed Medical Center. Kriesel lost both of his legs “after a couple hundred pounds of explosives blew his Humvee off a dirt road in Iraq.”¹

http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/12/images/20061222_d-0623-1-515h.html

¹http://www.minnesotanationalguard.org/press_room/e-zine/articles/index.php?item=280

http://www.dma.state.mn.us/press_room/photo_gallery/in_our_sights/0701/pages/281_bush_purple_heart.htm