The Citizens Commission on Human Rights is hosting an event featuring the Tampa area U.S. Marine Color Guard to honor recipients of the Purple Heart at the historic Fort Harrison.
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), the non-profit mental health watchdog group that has been active worldwide for almost five decades, is hosting an event honoring Purple Heart Day on Saturday, August 4th at the historic Fort Harrison.
A special event is scheduled to commemorate members of the U.S. military and veterans for the 3rd anniversary of Purple Heart Day, which is observed annually on August 7th to honor those who have been awarded the Purple Heart medal for their service.
The host of the event is the Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), which is dedicated to the eradication of abuses committed in the field of mental health. CCHR was co-founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and noted psychiatrist and author, Dr. Thomas Szasz.
George Washington originally established the 1782 Badge of Military Merit, which had the design motif of a purple heart, and was eventually succeeded by today’s Purple Heart Medal. First given in 1932, a Purple Heart is awarded to U.S. military personnel wounded or killed in action, and is the oldest military award still presented to U.S. service personnel.
The August 4th CCHR event includes a formal presentation of arms by the Tampa area U.S. Marine Color Guard. This dramatic and skilled example of close-order presentation drilling never fails to impress those fortunate enough to experience it.
For decades, CCHR has researched the harmful effects of psychiatric mind-altering drugs and supported extensive research on the relationship between fast-increasing psychotropic prescriptions, and equally fast-increasing rates of veteran suicide.
“We are honored to pay our respects to the recipients of the Purple Heart and are here today to make it known that as a watchdog group we will never sit by while those who gave so much are subjected to abuse disguised as help,” said Diane Stein, President of CCHR Florida.
Since 2002, the U.S. military suicide rates have almost doubled. From 2010 to 2012, more U.S. soldiers died by suicide than from traffic accidents, heart disease, cancer and homicide. In 2012 alone, more U.S. active duty service men and women committed suicide than died in combat, and veterans are killing themselves at the rate of over 20 per day.
From 2005 to 2011, the U.S. Department of Defense increased its prescriptions of psychiatric drugs by nearly seven times which was far greater than the increase for civilians.
Officially, one in six American service members is on at least one psychiatric drug and over the last ten years, the U.S. government has spent more than $4.5 billion dollars just medicating soldiers and veterans.
“In honor of those that served, and to whom we all owe a debt that can never truly be repaid, the staff and supporters of CCHR promise that we will continue to fight for those who so valiantly fought for us, by exposing abuses against veterans and those in active service while supporting alternative solutions,” said Ms. Stein.
CCHR Florida has new expanded office quarters open daily to visitors until 10:00pm at 109 N Fort Harrison Ave, Clearwater. To learn more, please call 727-442-8820 or visit www.cchrflorida.org.
About CCHR: Initially established by the Church of Scientology and renowned psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, CCHR’s mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, first brought psychiatric imprisonment to wide public notice: “Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the ‘free world’ tortured, castrated, killed. All in the name of ‘mental health,’” he wrote in March 1969.
