While still mired in controversy stemming from his comments directed at the grieving parents of a fallen soldier,A Thought of Ecstasy Donald Trump received an unexpected gift from a veteran: his own Purple Heart.

The medal, awarded to military members wounded or killed during service, was given to Donald Trump, he said, by a veteran at a rally in Virginia.

According to Trump: "Something very nice just happened to me. A man came up to me and handed me his Purple Heart. I said to him, 'Is that like the real one or is that a copy?' And he said, 'That's my real Purple Heart. I have such confidence in you.'"

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

But another Purple Heart recipient, Illinois Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat, took umbrage at Trump's remarks over the gift, posting a photo of herself to Twitter that shows her in a hospital bed shortly after receiving her medal.

Said Rep. Duckworth in the tweet: "This is how one usually looks when you are awarded the Purple Heart. Nothing easy about it.

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In November 2014, while serving in the Iraq War, the Blackhawk helicopter Duckworth was piloting was shot down; Duckworth lost both of her legs in the crash and was subsequently awarded the medal. It was the subject of an essay she wrote in 2015 for Politicoand her speech at the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia in July.

Another Purple Heart recipient, Sean Barney, joined Duckworth in criticizing Trump. Barney, who's currently running for Congress in Delaware as a Democrat, posted the below image to Facebook on Tuesday, saying, "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."

Also joining the chorus of criticism was Nadia McCaffrey, mother of Purple Heart recipient Sgt. Patrick McCaffrey, killed in action in Iraq in 2004. Speaking to CNN, McCaffrey said she thought Trump's reaction showed he didn't understand what an honor the medal was and added, "To me, a Purple Heart is sacred for what it represents and should not be given to anyone who didn't deserve one."

The latest dust-up comes as Trump deals with the fall-out over comments he made about the parents of Capt. Humayun Khan, a U.S. soldier who was Muslim and was killed in Iraq in 2004. Khan's parents appeared at the DNC where his father, Khazir Khan gave a memorable, powerful speech. Capt. Khan was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

According to the New York Times, Trump received five draft deferments during the Vietnam War.

And, as if the entire sequence of events weren't convoluted enough, NBC's Katy Tur tweeted later on Tuesday that the veteran who gave Trump the medal told her it was only a duplicate, not a real Purple Heart.

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Whether or not the medal was indeed the real thing was unconfirmed at time of writing.