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Sean Davis knows what it really means to receive a Purple Heart. "In my case," he wrote Tuesday in an open letter on The Big Smoke, "it was a violent and coordinated ambush in Taji, Iraq."

Davis is a Portlander who ran for mayor earlier this year, focusing on creating solutions for people who actually live in Portland. In an opinion piece in The Oregonian, he wrote, "The only way to really move Portland toward a solution is to have someone in City Hall who shares the same priorities with the real people who live here."

"I'm running because I live here," he added, "and I will be living here for [the next] 20 years."

Davis is a writer and a veteran who is Post Commander at the American Legion Post 134 on Alberta. He's also a seasonal firefighter and an English instructor at Mount Hood and Clackamas Community colleges.

And when he saw Donald Trump talk Tuesday about being given a Purple Heart from a retired lieutenant colonel and supporter, and say, "I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier," Davis says, "I was upset. I was very upset."

His letter, called "An Open Letter to Donald Trump from a Purple Heart Veteran," in which he talks about his Purple Heart and the Purple Hearts of his friends, is getting attention well beyond Portland. What started as a comment on an ABC video has now been shared 1,200 times on The Big Smoke, an Australian magazine. It's also been picked up by the Good Men Project.

"How could someone give something I hold sacred to you, a person so full of hate and ignorance?" writes Davis, "Why would anyone give this award I hold so precious to a man who so obviously has no idea what it really means?"

Over the phone, Davis says, "It's so infuriating."

"I don't know what to do about this election," he adds.

Davis says he doesn't want to be the only voice of Portland veterans, but he does feel an added responsibility because of his status. "I really feel like, as a veteran, I do have a responsibility to make sure somebody like that doesn't get into power," he says. "It's already an insult that he's running for office."

But Davis isn't without hope. "When you see a problem," he says, "you need to fix it instead of just talking about it."

Much like his mayoral candidacy, which he says was about changing the conversation in Portland politics, Davis' letter is about direct action.

"I tell my students all the time, there's more Millennials than there are Baby Boomers right now and they can make a change," he says. "I think people just have to set an example for them."

You can read his letter here.

-- Lizzy Acker

503-221-8052

lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker