Our Story

Thank you for visiting Steel Hearts. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2014 by Joe Wiseman (USMA '08) and Chris Merz (USMA '07) with a mission to honor fallen Service Academy graduates, cadets, and midshipmen’s memories and legacies.

We started Steel Hearts for two reasons.
The first was to honor and remember our West Point classmates and friends who were killed in action during Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Being veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, we personally lived through the loss of our good friends, and we have vowed to honor their sacrifices. As 2007 and 2008 graduates, we started with commemorative bracelets for those particular classes.

The second reason was to raise money and awareness for charities and veterans' organizations through the sale of unique and innovative products. The first thing we came up with was a high quality, acid etched steel commemorative bracelet. We were tired of cheaper bracelets snapping, breaking, and generally looking terrible. They were not suitable nor appropriate to honor our friends' memories. So, we searched long and hard to find these bracelets and were fortunate to find some that met our standards. Oh, and they are 670-1 and 36-2903 authorized, too - feel free to wear them with pride in and out of uniform.

We donate $10 for every bracelet sold to veteran non-profit organizations and charities designated by the surviving families. We realize no profit from the bracelet sales, and when no charity is designated by the surviving family or we are unable to contact a surviving family, the funds are used to send free bracelets to family members and keep Steel Hearts operational.

Steel Hearts now offers bracelets honoring fallen graduates, cadets, airmen, and military personnel of various service academies and branches of service.