Air Force Vet To Get Missing Medals — That He Doesn't Want

Newhouse News ^ | 4/22/2008 | Grant Segall

[Incorrigible]

 

"I believe in awards,'' he added, but not for "routine work.''

My father would have said the same thing. 

He died peacefully last month just before his 84th birthday. Only occasionally did he talk about the naval battles he was in during WWII in the South Pacific.

 

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Here’s a riddle:

What’s the difference between D. Brock Foster and John Kerry?

[sportutegrl]

The headline to this article seems to suggest John Kerry’s symbolic ‘throwing away’ his purple hearts. I’m sure that is not what this Vet intended to imply, but rather the editor’s choice of words.

[ASA Vet]

How does a USAF officer volunteer for Special Forces?

[Incorrigible]

How does a USAF officer volunteer for Special Forces?

Are you guys really expecting accuracy from a journalist and headline writer??

 

 

Just sit back and enjoy a good story!

 

[Fundamentally Fair]

How does a USAF officer volunteer for Special Forces?

When it is reported by a lame-brained newspaper reporter.

[ThePythonicCow]

He says he spent an hour piloting his prop plane overhead, dodging fire,

That reminds me of an Air Force major I worked with, while I was stationed in Tampa, Florida. He had spent the previous year flying over North Vietnam in a prop plane, the military equivalent of a Cessna 150, as a Forward Air Controller. His job was to spend hours a day, flying over enemy anti-aircraft sites, calling in the bombers to take them out.

He refused to drive on the freeways, always taking the surface streets. The freeway traffic made him nervous. I don't know; maybe he figured he'd already used up all his spare lives.

[jazusamo]

Probably due to the reporter misnaming it.

USAF Special Operations

[Dr.Zoidberg]

What’s the difference between D. Brock Foster and John Kerry?

That's easy.

Only one of them is a man.

[PeterFinn]

How does a USAF officer volunteer for Special Forces?

He goes to his CO, asks for a transfer to another branch of service, and etc. etc.

[org.whodat]

What’s the difference between D. Brock Foster and John Kerry?

One of them I would walk across the street to shake his hand the other I would not. You guess which.

[PeterFinn]

My father would have said the same thing.

He died peacefully last month just before his 84th birthday. Only occasionally did he talk about the naval battles he was in during WWII in the South Pacific.

My sincere condolences. My own father who passed away nine years ago rarely if ever spoke of his time as a "guest" of His Majesty's Imperial Army in a POW camp from 1942-1945.

[purpleraine]

My father was 85 before he talked about the war. We were sitting around and his great-grandson asked him about it and he just started talking. I cried about it for two days.

When he died in Jan, I went through his stuff. His army medals, papers, and photos` were in a cigar box and big envelope.

The most revealing part of this guy's story is "doing routine stuff." They thought it was their duty and you just did what you needed to do.

I told my dad I would take him to 50th anniversary of D-Day and we would visit the places he had been, starting in England. He said no, once was enough.

[river rat]

"What’s the difference between D. Brock Foster and John Kerry?"

I would salute D. Brock Foster's tombstone.
I would piss on John Kerry's.

[PeterFinn]

You, too, have my condolences and my sincere thanks for your father’s sacrifices for our freedom.

[PeterFinn]

I would salute D. Brock Foster's tombstone. I would piss on John Kerry's.

I'd say you're being too generous to Mr. Kerry.

[purpleraine]

Thanx. We buried my dad at the Veterans Cemetery in Riverside, CA. It was a Monday in June. There were eight other ceremonies at about the same time. They will all be gone soon.

[swmobuffalo]

My dad would tell us “tame” stories as kids about his days in the Army during WWII. It wasn’t until the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor that he finally told us the “good” ones.

He was never in good enough shape for any of his battalion reunions but even in his last days he could sing the battle song for that battalion.

He’s been gone now 6 years.

[purpleraine]

They are leaving us all too quickly. Best wishes!

[swmobuffalo]

“They are leaving us all too quickly.”

Yep, as are the Korean and Vietnam vets.