Service Medals

Dad died in August of 2005. The spring before, I had taken the opportunity to sit down with him and begin a biographical interview. I asked Dad about where he was born, his early memories. He told stories of high school, university, medical school, and his first marriage. After two days of interview, we left off at the time when he was headed to Vietnam.

Dad and his colleagues knew, in 1969, that "their numbers were coming up," so they entered the military voluntarily as medical officers rather than waiting to be drafted. As a result, Dad served a year on forward fire bases in south Vietnam.

I came across my Dad's Bronze Star, a military service medal awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service. Because Dad never talked about this award, I wrote to Veterans' Affairs in order to procure a record of the circumstances for which Dad received it. VA did not send such a record; but they sent me new versions of all the decorations that Dad received for his time in the Army.

Here's what they sent me:

The box with the star and red and blue ribbon devices is the Bronze Star. Mom tells me that Dad recounted to her a story of Dad crossing a line of defense to retrieve a medic who had fallen on the way back to the base. He pulled the medic to safety under enemy fire. (Dad never told us this story.) I asked Dad's friend, a fellow physician whom he had met during duty in Vietnam, and he told me the Bronze Star had been awarded for meritorious service in general, not a particular incident. Since the VA did not send me details, that one may have to remain a mystery.

The silver caduceus and cross medal is the Combat Medical Badge; the small green and white ribbon is Republic of Vietnam Campaign ribbon; the medal with yellow, red, and green ribbon is the Vietnam Service medal; with red and yellow ribbon is the National Defense Service medal. As I understand them, these were all awarded because of Dad's assignment, rather than any exemplary acts of service. I have not yet found any of these (besides the Bronze Star) in Dad's stuff; I only discovered he had earned these when I sent to the VA about the Bronze Star.

I'm not sure the significance of the fact that Dad never wore or displayed these medals. I know from his book, Mist Over the Dong Nai, that his view of the Vietnam War was ambivalent at best. And I can only imagine that joining the officer core to stay ahead of the draft does not make for the most enthusiastic memory of one's time in the military.

Since Dad died before we could really talk about that part of his life, we may only be left with his book and his medals.

~ emrys