One veteran walks around with shrapnel from the Korean War. Another carries scars from an ambush in Afghanistan.

Yet another was injured when an enemy's booby-trapped body exploded in Iraq.

Thirty Purple Heart recipients were honored at a Veterans Day event on Sunday at the Lancaster Theater in downtown Grapevine. U.S. Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Coppell, hosted the event in recognition of Veterans Day this Wednesday.

Before the ceremony began, a large video screen showed pictures of military members performing their duties in battle – past and present. Patriotic music played in the background as veterans and their families mingled around tables of cake and appetizers.

Some in attendance were visibly moved when the ceremony got under way. But a child sending out kudos to his grandfather during the program seemed to lighten the mood.

Many veterans wore military medals, and one had a wheelchair decorated with military insignia and stickers. Some veterans had received more than one Purple Heart, which is awarded to U.S. military members wounded or killed in action when engaging the enemy.

Marchant told audience members that he who wears the Purple Heart "has given of his blood."

"These men have defended our country in the hour of need," he said. "We cannot ever forget the sacrifices that have been made."

Purple Heart recipients understand being wounded in battle, but they had a hard time making sense of a soldier ambushing fellow soldiers last week at Fort Hood. Some of the veterans could only shake their heads in confusion and disgust.

"I can see it happening over in Afghanistan and Iraq. Over here, it's incomprehensible," said Thomas Quigley, 87, an Army veteran of World War II. "That's a sad thing."

Several groups volunteered to help organize the Purple Heart ceremony, including the city of Grapevine, the Grapevine Convention Center, the Grapevine Fire Department, the Grapevine Police Department and Boy Scout Troop 28.

Derrick Castleberry, 23, left the military in 2008. He received the Purple Heart for injuries received when his Humvee was ambushed in Afghanistan. Shrapnel tore through his hands, which are now scarred.

"My right finger was hanging by a piece of skin," said Castleberry, now a police officer in Colleyville.

David Hilario Jr., 38, also attended the ceremony. He was injured by shrapnel in Iraq in 2004 when he and other troops were transporting the bodies of dead insurgents. One of the corpses was booby-trapped with a grenade.

"I'm all right," said Hilario when asked if he fully recovered.

Marchant urged veterans to let people know it's not too late to receive military medals that they qualify for but never received. He also told audience members about an oral history program in which veterans record their experiences for the Library of Congress. World War II stories are particularly important right now, he said.

"We are very quickly losing our World War II veterans," he said.

Jack Harvey Armstrong, a recipient of two Purple Hearts, was just 17 when he left for World War II in 1942. The 84-year-old commended Marchant for holding the ceremony. But he shook his head in confusion when talking about the rampage in Fort Hood, and he wondered why someone didn't see signs of instability in the suspect, U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan.

"Why somebody didn't catch that stuff ..." Armstrong said, letting his voice trail off.

"I think it's horrible. Terrible, terrible, terrible."