Yorktown Receives Purple Heart Town Proclamation [VIDEO]

Yorktown is now a Purple Heart Town.

Town board members along with Eugene Lang, Neil Gross, Dale Novak, of the Military Order of the Purple Heart Chapter 21 New York, held a ceremony on Aug. 7 to celebrate Yorktown's designation as a Purple Heart Town.

The proclamation, issued on Aug. 6 by Yorktown Supervisor Michael Grace, proclaims Yorktown as a town that honors veterans who have earned the Military Order of the Purple Heart, granted to all of the brave American warriors who have been wounded or killed in battle. 

"You never say enough about the sacrifices those people in the armed services make for our freedom and everything that we do here, all that we enjoy is on the backs of those who are out there protecting our freedom across the globe," Grace said during the ceremony. "There is no adequate gratitude that we can show these people for what they've done for us."

Eugene Lang, a Yorktown resident and Vietnam War veteran, was present and honored at the ceremony. He sustained a serious injury while serving with the 1st Air Cavalry in Vietnam on May 9, 1968. Lang was hit by enemy fire and suffered a shrapnel wound to his right knee. He received his Purple Heart 44 years later when U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer presented him with his award in August, 2012. 

Watch what he had to say during the August 7 proclamation ceremony in Yorktown.