Topeka ? A Marine from Atchison whose Purple Heart was revoked should have the award reinstated, Kansas legislators declared in a resolution they adopted Friday.

The resolution, approved on voice votes in both chambers, asks Congress to direct the U.S. Marine Corps to allow Cpl. Travis Eichelberger to keep the medal “he so richly deserves.”

The Marine Corps took the award away from Eichelberger because it said his injuries in Iraq weren’t caused by hostile or combat action, as required under military rules.

Legislators acted after conferring with Rep. Jim Ryun, R-Kan., who is calling on the Pentagon to reinstate the award. Ryun was planning to send a letter Friday to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, urging him to return Eichelberger’s Purple Heart, Ryun spokesman Nick Reid said.

Eichelberger, 22, was crushed by a tank driven by another American on the second day of the Iraq war in 2003. He is among 11 Marines notified recently that their Purple Hearts were awarded by mistake.

Separately, Rep. Peter Visclosky, D-Ind., said he will introduce a resolution in Congress next week honoring Eichelberger and three other wounded Marines whose Purple Hearts were revoked. The resolution, if passed, would be nonbinding but expresses the position of Congress that the medals should be returned.