Keystone Lake Designated 1st Purple Heart Lake In Oklahoma

The Purple Heart is presented to service members who have been wounded or killed as a result of enemy action while serving in the U.S. military. Cities can also be designated as Purple Heart cities, and now Keystone Lake has been designated the first Purple Heart lake in Oklahoma.

Wounded Veterans for Oklahoma held a ceremony to designate the lake as a Purple Heart lake a couple of weeks ago, but the project itself had been a couple of years in the making. J.D. Dennis, the COO for Wounded Veterans for Oklahoma said that the organization wanted to designate the lake as a Purple Heart lake because of all the support the organization receives from the lake community during the annual veteran's homecoming parade.

During the ceremony, a couple of Purple Heart recipients joined, and two buoys were placed in the lake that identify Keystone Lake as a Purple Heart lake. One buoy is located near the 412 bridge, and the other is near the Highway 51 bridge. The Highway 51 Bridge is significant because it's also known as the Vietnam War Memorial Bridge.

"Two of the veterans that we had on the barge with us were Vietnam Purple Heart recipients. All Purple Heart recipients deserve our total respect, but especially our Vietnam veterans. The conditions they came home to was not like any other of our veterans that came home," Dennis said.

The buoys are there to serve as a reminder to everyone who uses the lake of the sacrifices that our veterans made for our country.

"You give boaters, Oklahoma boaters, a reminder that our freedoms are their sacrifices made with those freedoms, and just a simple reminder that soldiers that have bled, sweat, blood and tears to provide those freedoms to us," Dennis said.

Dennis said that there is also talk to look into designating more lakes across Oklahoma as Purple Heart lakes as well to keep reminding people of the sacrifices our veterans have made for our country.