The Vietnam Wound Medal was a military decoration of South Vietnam first created in 1950.[citation needed] The decoration was the South Vietnamese equivalent of the (United States military) Purple Heart, and was awarded to any personnel of the South Vietnamese military who, while engaged in armed combat with enemies of the Republic of Vietnam, were either killed or wounded in action. With the fall of South Vietnam in 1975, the Vietnam Wound Medal became obsolete. It is now only available through private dealers in military insignia.[citation needed]