From the entrance of Charis Bible College in Woodland Park, to the front gate of Fort Carson Army post, to the Veterans Memorial at Memorial Park in Colorado Springs, signs proclaiming the area as a “Purple Heart Community” are popping up to remember and honor members of a group no one wants to be in, but many are.

About 100 signs from the Military Order of the Purple Heart are being installed in Teller and El Paso counties, said Frank Connors, a retired Navy SEAL who is helping orchestrate the project that began about 18 months ago.

“It is the knowledge of your thoughts and prayers for the Purple Heart recognition,” Connors said Thursday at a sign presentation at Andrew Wommack Ministries in Woodland Park. “They have the same legacy today that means a service member has greatly sacrificed themselves.”

The signs connect an invisible trail connecting hearts that are inspired to remember military members who lost their lives or were injured during service.

Considered the oldest medal in the U.S. military, having been established in 1782 by Gen. George Washington as a badge of valor and meritorious military service, the Purple Heart is not an award, Connors said.

It’s a recognition that’s either given posthumously after a soldier dies during war or is wounded in action while fighting an enemy of the United States, signifying a meritorious act of essential service.

By the end of World War II, more than 1 million Purple Hearts had been presented, Connors said.

Three Purple Heart holders — all who served as Special Forces Green Berets in the Vietnam War, meaning they operated behind enemy lines — spoke at the ceremony of the mettle behind the medal.

Retired Capt. John Bartlett said Americans seem to have forgotten that the Purple Heart is “the price we pay for our freedoms — the right to religion, the right to assembly and here we are today, and we have the right to speak out.”

Many veterans keep private their deeds and suffering, Bartlett said.

“It is not earned — it is received,” he said of the Purple Heart. “It’s not a winner type of thing. A lot of people put it in their underwear drawer and leave it there, out of humbleness or something.”

The purpose of the imaginary Purple Heart trail of signs is “to remind us of that sacrifice and teach us,” said Bartlett, who was described as the motivating force behind the signs being placed around the community.

Forty-three signs have been erected in the Pikes Peak region so far, he said. Memorial Park in Colorado Springs got its sign Wednesday.

The Military Order of the Purple Heart organization requests that the signs be placed in an honorable and prominent location by the organizations and entities that receive them. There’s a proclamation involved and an official presentation of the sign. Families often attend, Bartlett said, to share their stories.

In an emotional retelling, Don “Gunney” Bartron, who grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation where he learned to be a warrior, took the microphone and said he turned 19 in Vietnam and wasn’t sure he’d live to see that birthday.

His first buddy to die in his arms came just two weeks after they arrived on the battlefield. The soldier had one arm and both legs blown off. When his new friend asked how bad it was, Bartron didn’t lie. “I said it’s bad.”

“He said, ‘I thought so, I can’t feel anything.’”

“I said, ‘Thank you, Lord,’” Bartron said.

His buddy said “When you go back to the world (where they called home) you remind people to live, not just exist. To make the best of what you have.”

Bartron said he watched blood spill from both of their bodies and pool together on the ground.

“The blood that runs through our veins is the same; it doesn’t matter what color your skin is,” he said.

Bartron was wounded for the second time on his 20th birthday. When he was wounded for the fifth time — and his third Purple Heart — he returned home for good.

“Every guy I knew in the Special Forces unit, they were dedicated, they were proud, but they were scared,” he said. “Courage is when you stand and fight when there is no hope.”

Andrew Wommack, founder of Andrew Wommack Ministries, an evangelical Christian multimedia organization, and the related Bible college, said the sign his organization was granted Thursday will be seen by tens of thousands of people annually, as it will be placed at the front gate where people enter the large campus.

Wommack served as a chaplain in the Vietnam War, and said he’s appreciative of the people who serve in the military. He sees the sign as a way for the entire community to honor those who served.

Connors nominated Wommack’s organization to accept a Purple Heart sign for his property while he was a city councilor.

On the morning of Memorial Day, another Purple Heart Community sign will be dedicated at The Grange in Florissant.