LONGMEADOW - On Aug. 7 residents and local dignitaries gathered on the Longmeadow Town Green to honor and recognize the town’s Purple Heart Recipients. The Purple Heart is known as the most notable military award, and is the oldest award recognized by all military services.

The town’s first Purple Heart Day ceremony honored six of the town’s war veterans. Each of the veterans now has their own Purple Heart sign with their names that will be displayed around Longmeadow.

State Rep. Brian Ashe attended the event and handed out the certificates to each of the six honorees.

“Today is a proud day for Longmeadow, to be a Purple Heart town. Thank you to all of our Purple Heart recipients, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for what you’ve done for our country.  It truly is humbling, I’m honored to be here today,” Ashe said.

Four of the veterans were in attendance to receive their awards, while two had a family member accept the award in their place.

The grandson of Purple Heart recipient David Weiner said, “He’s honored to be recognized for his service just like he was honored to fight for all of our freedoms in World War II.”

Weiner was in the 114th infantry regiment, 44th division, Company F.  This was the first division to ship from Boston directly to France without stopping in England.  According to Weiner’s grandson, the company went the longest amount of time seeing front-line combat without a break in the European Theatre.

Former School Committee member John Fitzgerald accepted his certificate from Ashe for his service in the US Army.

“I want to thank you all for coming out, and thank you to the town of Longmeadow for this honor. It’s been a pleasure to serve this country and I hope we’re going to continue to value our freedoms and speak out, that’s what makes America great,” Fitzgerald said.

Though Wayne Fisher is deceased, his son Paul Fisher accepted the award on his behalf.

“I want to thank all of the heroes here who are Purple Heart recipients, Wayne passed away about two years ago and this is just really awesome, to honor everybody,” Paul said.

Steven Douglas, Samuel Hatch, and Edward Kolodjay were also honored at the Purple Heart Day ceremony. Douglas served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam, Hatch in the U.S. Army in World War II, and Kolodjay in the U.S. Navy in Vietnam.