Tammy Duckworth Joins Purple Heart Veterans Blasting Trump for 'Repugnant' Comments

— -- Congresswoman and Iraq War veteran Tammy Duckworth -- who lost both legs and partial use of her arm in combat -- had a powerful message for Donald Trump regarding his controversial remarks about receiving a Purple Heart as a gift.

Sharing a photo of herself in a hospital bed, Duckworth, D-Ill., wrote, "This is how one usually looks when you are awarded the Purple Heart. Nothing easy about it."

At a rally in Ashburn, Va., today the GOP nominee said he was given a Purple Heart medal by a veteran backstage.

"I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier," Trump remarked.

Duckworth was injured in Iraq in 2004 after her helicopter was hit by a rocket propelled grenade.

Her sentiments echo those Purple Heart recipient Sean Barney, who issued a scathing message for Trump: "No one should ever 'want' one of these."

Barney, a Democratic congressional candidate from Delaware, blasted Trump for his "flippant and repugnant" comments.

"As someone who fought for our country in Iraq, was injured, and was awarded a Purple Heart, I can tell you, no one should ever 'want' to get a Purple Heart," he wrote in a post on Facebook.

According to the Army, the Purple Heart is awarded to American service members who are wounded or killed in action or die of wounds caused by enemy combatants. Barney served in the Marine Corps from 2002 to 2007. He was shot in the neck by a sniper while on patrol in Iraq in 2006.

Barney joined a chorus of others denouncing Trump for his perceived disrespect of military members and their families.

"Donald Trump has not sacrificed for this country and he does not understand duty to any cause other than himself," Barney wrote.