Wounded Coast Guardsman Wins Purple Heart, Promotion. Coast Guardsman Thomas Sortino of Forest Park, Illinois, wounded in the North African invasion, receives the Purple Heart from Vice Admiral Russell R. Waesche, Coast Guard commandant. Simultaneously, Sortino was promoted from boatswain's mate first class to chief. After his invasion boat had been sunk by enemy action, the Coast Guardsman was rescued from the water by fishermen who brought him to a French surgeon. The surgeon, without anesthetics, amputated his arm.

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Keywords: 17-a2-218, 26-, coast, guard, history, job, rdss, rg