World War II vet, 90, closer to getting Marines to fix AWOL error in war record

FoxNews.com ^ | Published July 01, 2014 | Joshua Rhett Miller

[topher]

A 90-year-old decorated World War II veteran still fighting to correct what he says is an erroneous war record may finally be getting closer to realizing his goal.

Thomas Joseph Smith, Jr., of Glenville, N.Y., who survived some of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific, said he received the shock of a lifetime when he realized military records detailing his time with the U.S. Marine Corps incorrectly indicated he went AWOL for one month during his unit’s deployment on the Marshall Islands in the early 1940s.

[topher]

Mix up over names: good guy is Thomas Joseph Smith, Jr.

Apparently the guy who was AWOL was Thomas Jefferson Smith, Jr.

Wish this person success with his memoirs

[topher]

Medical professionals know about this, which is why when you are being treated somewhere, you are asked for your name AND date of birth.

This is to prevent the person being treated is not MIS-IDENTIFIED...

[GraceG]

This is why Medical Science needs to come up with an immortality serum, so if the government screws up our records we can live long enough to get them corrected....

[Gay State Conservative]

I can understand that.To this day my DD-214 incorrectly lists my Service Number.

[topher]

Then he should try to receive help from the VA...

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

AWOL on the marshall islands for a month.Thats rich I tell ya.

[mabarker1]

How does one go AWOL on an ISLAND during a War!?

Go float in the surf and hope the Ships/Sharks miss Ya?

[mabarker1]

GMTA

[familyop]

A rare few of the clerks can be really nasty, too.