Posted on 12/04/2009 11:33:06 AM PST by GATOR NAVY
In early November, retired Senior Chief Jeffrey Sparenberg was the guest of honor at military heritage day in Delaware.
Sparenberg spent 23 years in the Navy, including time on the destroyer Cole, and he was at Fort DuPont State Park that day to donate a flag that he said flew over the Cole shortly after it was attacked nine years ago.
The flag, he hoped, would be put on view at the planned Delaware Military Museum.
A photograph from the ceremony shows Sparenberg on the steps of a shuttered brick building. The left side of his chest is covered with military medals - including a Bronze Star and Purple Heart, purportedly from the actions he took and the injuries he suffered in that lunchtime attack.
Seventeen sailors died in the suicide bombing on Oct. 12, 2000, during a refueling stop in Aden, Yemen.
Sparenberg's detailed account of that fateful day was published on Nov. 16 in a front-page story in The News Journal of Wilmington, Del.
Now Sparenberg is back in the spotlight: The Navy and the ship's former commander say he was not on the Norfolk-based ship at all on the day it was struck.
They don't know whether the flag he donated actually flew aboard the Cole. And the two most significant medals he wore to the Delaware ceremony are also in doubt.
Lt. John Daniels, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon, said Sparenberg's orders for the Cole show him joining the ship on Oct. 16, 2000 - four days after the bombing.
(Excerpt) Read more at hamptonroads.com ...
On a gator, especially a fairly big one like an LPD, hating riders is a pretty pointless exercise. You would only end up exhausted from the effort.
“Nobody....and I mean absolutely nobody....wears medals like this on a dress jacket. The guy is some nutcase.”
I felt the same way. A few years ago, a guy over 6’ joined our church and at a formal party wore his Navy Air Dale wings and a couple of Navy medals. I asked him what he flew, and it was a jet that flew on and off carriers (not a combat jet). He said that he served off Nam for a couple of tours.
Last year, he said that he was an Annapolis grad and he really disliked McCain and hated GW.
All types of flags went up. However, when I checked him out, he was legit with an honorable record of service and had been a graduate of the Naval Academy. He had obtained the rank of Captain and held some key at sea positions.
However, he is probably a real minority re the wearing of medals while not in uniform.
Probably the best night of my life ...
I wear a small pin from NAVFAC, VQ-1 DaNang on my informal jacket or shirt when attending GOE rallies. Other vets just wear caps, unit pins and patches but none flaunt salad. Just isn’t done.
Bite your tongue, sailor!
Merry Christmas to you too...
You don't remember Secret Squirrel? It may have had something to do with our CMC at the time, who was a CT.
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