A sniper's bullet had torn through the sergeant's left knee as his squad moved out of Manila after taking part in the city's liberation.

Now 81, the south Augusta resident is reminded of that day every time he tries to bend his left leg and when he looks at his Purple Heart.

''It was nothing you wanted to get,'' he said of the Purple Heart, which he received at a 1946 ceremony at Camp Gordon. ''Of course, I'm glad I have it now.''

Mr. Marsh is one of thousands of World War II veterans awarded the medal created by Gen. George Washington to honor the valor of soldiers in his command.

The medal is now given to those who have been wounded or to the families of those who were killed in combat or who died as a result of their injuries.

The number of soldiers recognized in World War II with the Purple Heart for their bravery and sacrifice is not known, said Andler Alexander, a historian for the Purple Heart museum set to be built in Enfield, Conn. Records were not kept until Vietnam.

Mr. Marsh cherishes the medal now, but when he was shot, he wasn't looking for glory.

He was just doing his job.

''You never thought about it. You just thought about saving your men and yourself.''

Mr. Marsh's eyes fill with tears when he talks about Feb. 8, 1945, the day his career as an infantryman was over.

The end of World War II was only seven months away, and he'd survived more than three years without injury.

When the sniper's bullet hit, as Mr. Marsh led his squad to the edge of Manila, the round tore through cartilage and bone.

Medics grabbed him and hoisted his stretcher above their heads as they slogged through rice paddies heading toward a rendezvous point.

But they had to quickly turn around and race back to a Manila field hospital when the Japanese began bombing the area.

Mr. Marsh made it back to the States and spent 27 months in military hospitals in Rome, Ga., and Augusta. He was discharged from Oliver General Hospital in Augusta on July 4, 1947.

Still, he is thankful he survived and can show his grandsons the photograph of a young man dressed in a khaki Army uniform kneeling on a Pacific Island shore.

''That way I can prove to them that there was a time when I could bend my leg. Sometimes they don't believe me.''

Luck and courage

Augusta native Whitfield Landrum lived to receive his Purple Heart because the hand grenade lobbed at his head missed.

In June 1945, Mr. Landrum and his troops were advancing toward Okinawa through thick countryside. The troop leader pulled them back for some rest.

They didn't get any.

The Japanese attacked. In the melee, an enemy soldier threw a hand grenade, which sailed over Mr. Landrum's head and exploded 10 feet away. A piece of shrapnel lodged in the middle of his back.

It didn't stop him. The twisted metal was plucked out at a field hospital, his back was bandaged, and he was sent back to his station, he said.

He was awarded his Purple Heart in August 1945, a reminder of his good fortune and of the shrapnel that amazingly left no physical scar.

''Nobody wants to get hit by gunfire or shrapnel,'' said the 75-year-old, who now lives in Evans.

''I'm glad that they recognized it, but I wouldn't have wanted it to happen anyway.''

The Infantryman's badge is more of a symbol of service to Mr. Landrum.

''That is more important to me, because that means I was on the front lines doing what infantrymen do,'' the former sergeant said.

One sacrifice

World War II veterans Isaac H. McKnight (from left), Whitfield Landrum and Dewey Marsh have been awarded the Purple Heart. Each says he wasn't seeking glory but takes pride in the medal. ANNETTE M. DROWLETTE/STAFF

Isaac H. McKnight calls it the miracle wound.

While fighting in Germany in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, Sgt. McKnight and his fellow soldiers were hunkering down in a hedgerow ditch.

As one gave him a boost to climb out of the ditch, Mr. McKnight felt a stinging pain under his right shoulder blade.

He turned to see what hit him and saw that his buddy had been shot. A German soldier's bullet ripped through the soldier's neck - hitting Mr. McKnight under his right shoulder blade.

''That's why I didn't get the brunt of it,'' the 76-year-old North Augusta resident said. ''He stopped most of it for me.''

Mr. McKnight continued to fight as he waited for the field ambulance.

''I would have been killed if I hadn't,'' he said.

Like Mr. Marsh and Mr. Landrum, Mr. McKnight said the Purple Heart was not a medal most soldiers wanted to receive, but 56 years later, he's glad to be alive and proud of the recognition.

''It means I'll go down in history as defending my country.''

History of the award

The Order of the Purple Heart for Military Merit, known simply as the Purple Heart, is awarded to members of the armed services who are wounded in battle or to the next of kin of those who are killed in action or who die as a result of battle wounds.

The medal was created by Gen. George Washington to recognize valor and merit after the Continental Congress had ordered the general to stop rewarding the bravery of soldiers by promoting or paying them.

Gen. Washington ordered the first medal to have a small purple heart of silk on blue cloth. Purple silk was used because it was the most expensive fabric available.

After being lost or misfiled for nearly 150 years among War Department records in Washington, the order of the Purple Heart was discovered in the first president's papers during preparation for his bicentennial birthday celebration.

The U.S. War Department revived the Purple Heart decoration on Feb. 22, 1932, Washington's birthday.

In December 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order that extended eligibility for the medal to the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. The eligibility was retroactive to Dec. 6, 1941, to include Pearl Harbor veterans.

There have been subsequent amendments to the order.

Because no records were kept until the Vietnam War, the number of Purple Hearts awarded in previous conflicts is not known.

Since Vietnam, 221,899 Purple Hearts have been awarded.

Sources: The Military Order of the Purple Heart and Andler Alexander, historian of the planned Purple Heart Museum, Enfield, Conn.

Reach Jennifer Hilliard at (706) 823-3220.