CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Vietnam veteran and two-time recipient of the Purple Heart said he was attacked Saturday at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.
Jack Hughes, 66, said when he came home from battle in the 1960s, people threw rotten eggs at his uniform. Vietnam was an unpopular war and he expected that back then.
Hughes said he tried to explain that he earned two Purple Hearts in battle in Vietnam. He showed Channel 9 a picture he said was of an officer presenting one of the medals in a hospital and telegrams to his parents, informing them that Hughes had been wounded in battle.
He said another man at the airport Saturday tried to rip off his ribbons. Hughes said the man said to him, "I'm an active duty Marine.' And he just ripped the buttons right off."