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Published: Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008 / Updated: Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008 12:33 AM

Family to fight for son's 'Heart'

FORT LAWN -- Wednesday was another sad day for Douglas and Shelby Messer. The couple from rural Chester County months ago buried their soldier son, Charlie, who died in December after a car crash in Texas.

Charlie was 20 years old when he died. He had been hurt in Iraq months before. The Messers have thought for months Charlie would get a Purple Heart.

Charlie's burial marker at Chester Memorial Gardens provided by the federal Office of Veterans Affairs even states "Purple Heart." It is a medal given to soldiers, in general, wounded or killed from action in combat operations.

But the Army said no.

"We still think he deserves it," Shelby Messer said.

If not, the Messers at least want an apology from the Army.

Spc. Charlie Messer was injured on June 15, 2007, when the machine gun on the vehicle he was on in a combat patrol near Mosul, Iraq, broke free. His arm was broken.

There is no disputing that, by anybody.

The dispute is whether enemy fire or bombs caused the injury. After the injury, Charlie returned to his base in Texas. He died Dec. 22 after a single-car crash.

Yet the Messers, and another son, Eric, say Charlie told them before his death the June injury was the result of what the Army calls an Improvised Explosive Device. Another soldier who attended the funeral and served in the same patrol that June day told them there was an IED explosion, Douglas and Shelby Messer said.

But the Army said no.

The Messers requested an Army investigation. A document the Messers received Wednesday from Army Long Term Family Case Management states, "The investigation has determined that Spc. Messer was the victim of an accident caused by improper preventive maintenance checks and services, not enemy fire."

The machine gun "bounced off its weapon mount," the document states, then adds, "His combat patrol never struck an IED or received enemy fire at any point."

The document states Army investigators obtained sworn statements from Messer's platoon sergeant and commander of the lead vehicle in the patrol from that day.

Further, the document stated that the Messer family was "misled." Information given to the family by a different sergeant after Charlie's death about an IED "was completely false," the document states.

A spokeswoman for the Army, Lt. Col. Ann Edgecomb, said investigations into claims for Purple Hearts are common to make sure the integrity of the award is preserved, and also to check into requests such as the one made by the Messers.

The goal is "to get to the truth," Edgecomb said.

Douglas Messer said he was under the impression his son would get a Purple Heart when he gave the data for the grave marker.

"If Charlie doesn't get the Purple Heart, he sure should get a marker that is right," Douglas Messer said.

The father said his son wouldn't have wanted a marker that wasn't right.

The Messers plan to appeal the ruling.

"I want some answers," Shelby Messer said.

The document also states that "the method of Spc. Messer's original injury does not reflect poorly on him or his family. He deployed to a combat zone and prosecuted the War on Terror with his brothers-in-arms. This is more than the average young American has done and he is to be commended for his service."

Charlie Messer did get a posthumous promotion to corporal, his parents said. But all that is little solace for this couple from Fort Lawn whose pain won't end.

What is the Purple Heart?