Posted on 03/25/2017 11:06:51 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
MURRIETA, Calif. (AP) — An Army veteran was awarded the Bronze Star this week for his heroism in a Vietnam War battle that left more than 50 fellow U.S. soldiers dead and close to 200 injured.
Retired Sgt. Joseph Engles was presented with the military distinction on Monday during a ceremony in his hometown of Murrieta, in Southern California, for gallantry in the face of the enemy during the Battle of Suoi Tre in March 1967.
Former Army Maj. Gen. Juilian Burns, who presented the award, said Engles was seriously wounded on the battlefield but continued to man his gun and return fire at the enemy. Burns said that when military officials spoke to those who witnessed the battle, "we came to realize Joe was more than just a gunner."
Engles was seriously wounded during the battle, but he continued to man his gun and return fire, Burns said in a statement. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at realcleardefense.com ...
So award the Medal of Honor
I grew up with the Vietnam War. Such a horrible, senseless tragedy if there ever was one. Lost an uncle, a highly decorated captain, for what? My brother served there, and I very nearly went myself.
When I was in OCS at Benning in ‘69 we were called out for a ceremony honoring a vet with the Silver Star for his actions in Italy in 1944. I remember thinking at the time, ‘Twenty-five years! What took them so long?’.
This is almost fifty years. Makes one wonder.
You’re a little off historically and how the Vietnam War fit into the bigger mosaic of the Cold War. The senseless tragedy was the way the Demonrats, and some Repubics, gave up a military victory with their political games and posturings.
But then one could say that every war since WWII has been a senseless tragedy because we have become a silly nation with venal and corrupt political leadership.
More than fifty thousand American men lost their lives in Southeast Asia. For what? I have memories of the funeral of my highly-decorated uncle. My father said, “he was the best of the bunch.” The entire community showed up to honor him. Such a horrible loss, all for nothing.
In October 2006 my best friend died. He was a cobra gunship pilot in Vietnam. 7 days before passing, he received the Silver Star earned in in an engagement with the enemy in 1968.
Why does the government wait so long before giving our veterans the recognition they deserve.
The CMOH is, like the DSC, SS, BSM w/V ARCOM w/V etc, an award that has specific criteria for consideration.
Sgt Engles performance in the face of the enemy exceeded the criteria for the BSM, but did not rise to the level of the SS.
Not every valorous act is the same.
As to why it sometimes takes so long- it depends. Sometimes actions are lost or misplaced, sometimes the act is not brought to the attention of the specific services commendation process for decades- does not diminish the act, just delays the awards process.
Having been on awards committees for significant award consideration, it is almost a legal-like process- gathering first-hand information, confirming the proposed citation, examining unit records etc. Then the recommendation goes to the award authority (for BSMs etc , usually a MACOM Cdr ( 2 star or higher, with the CMOH going all the way to DCSPER (Army Deputy Chief of Staff, Personnel)a 4 star).
I had the pleasure of being an escort officer for a CMOH veteran years ago, I politely asked how he felt about the award. He replied he could only accept it on behalf of the men he lost and could not save. It was theirs, they died for it, it was his bear, he lived through it.
Duty, Honor, Country; This we’ll defend.
"Vietnamese boat people refers to refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship after the Vietnam War, especially during 1978 and 1979, but continuing until the early 1990s. The term is also often used generically to refer to all the Vietnamese (about 2 million) who left their country by any means between 1975 and 1995"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_boat_people
Reeducation camp is the official title given to the prison camps operated by the Communist government of Vietnam following the end of the Vietnam War. In such "reeducation camps", the government imprisoned up to 300,000 former military officers, government workers and supporters of the former government of South Vietnam. Reeducation as it was implemented in Vietnam was seen as both a means of revenge and as a sophisticated technique of repression and indoctrination, which developed following the 1975 Fall of Saigon. Thousands were tortured or abused. Prisoners were incarcerated for as long as 17 years, with most terms ranging from three to 10 years.
Remember when then Senator John Kerry said “Nothing bad happened in Viet Nam after we left.”
You have to get pass the revisionist version. Start with TET of 68 then read about Ford Motor Wonder Boy Robert McNamara. Include a good look at Walter Cronkite. You will start to see how Victory was given away.
1st Cav 1969 thru 1970.
A lot of Good Men were lost .
The horrible, senseless tragedy is that we had that war won by 1970 and the ‘rats in Congress snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Had it not been for that, there is a good chance South Vietnam could be a free, independent nation today, like South Korea.
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