The Purple Heart is a medal that is issued to members of the US Military that are wounded in battle. Almost half a million Purple Heart Medals were made near the end of WWII, in the anticipation of the invasion of Japan, which never came. Although there have been a few small production runs of new medals, most medals still in circulation were made during WWII in the anticipation of the invasion of Japan. There were enough Purple Hearts made during WWII that many units today in Afghanistan and Iraq have Purple Hearts on hand to give to wounded soldiers immediately.