A Purple Heart recipient has a message for Donald Trump: “You’re never too old to follow your dreams.”
The Republican presidential nominee was offered a Purple Heart by Lt. Col. Louis Dorfman at a Virginia rally on Tuesday.
“I’ve always wanted to get the Purple Heart,” Trump said during his speech. “This was much easier.”
Lt. Cameron Kerr, of Virginia, started a GoFundMe page hours later to “fly (Trump) to the conflict zone of his choosing.” Purple Hearts are given to combat-wounded service members.
“As with seemingly everything else in his life, Mr. Trump got one handed to him instead of earning it,” Kerr wrote on the page. “That being said, as a Purple Heart recipient who earned one the old-fashioned way by returning from Afghanistan one leg lighter, I fully endorse his desire to earn one and would happily oblige his interest in doing so, by being one of the first to chip in to fly him to the conflict zone of his choosing.”
Kerr posted proof on Imgur, with images of a prosthetic leg, the Purple Heart medal and a certificate with his name.
But Kerr said he realizes actually sending Trump to a war zone is unrealistic, and the money will actually be going to “a good cause that Donald Trump would vehemently oppose: aiding Syrian refugees.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, the page had received just more than $1,000 of its $5,000 goal, from about 50 benefactors.
Kerr added at the bottom, “Also yes, the orange theme on this page is very much intentional.”
Dorfman said on Fox News Wednesday that he gave Trump the medal to show him he believed he would be a good commander-in-chief.
“I wanted him to have that medal in his hand to remember all the people who have fought and died for this country,” Dorfman said.
Dorfman added that he had given Trump his real medal.