Vietnam Purple Heart Search

[Diamondrichlb]

Aloha,

I'm not sure this is the correct forum to post this into, but during a record search at home in regard to another issue I found a letter from a Captain to a Commanding General, United States Army Vietnam requesting I be awarded a Purple Heart for wounds suffered while flying a mission in the Vietnam Theater of Operations. I also have a copy of the treatment records from the emergency room. I remember the incident and going to the emergency room. I don't remember the application for the Purple Heart. The date of the letter requesting the Award was dated after my return from Vietnam. The Captain who took me to the emergency room has since died.

I requested a full records search from the National Personnel Records Center. When going thru the records they provided a couple months later, I do not see a request for the award of the PH, award of the PH, nor denial of the request for award of the PH. The letter from NPRC which came with the copy of my records states that since the PH is not shown as an awarded medal the request was turned down. It seems to me if the request was turned down there should be a record of the request and subsequent denial.

There is the issue that the mission I was flying was Top Secret. I don't know if it still is. That's way beyond my pay grade. Would that complicate the matter?

Can anyone suggest what my next step(s) should be?

Thanks for your help.

[Diamondrichlb]

I have not received a reply from the email sent from those old posts. Have not heard from my request for info on the Mohawk site.

I talked to the Army Awards Branch. They told me to email the request for award and supporting documents to them. I did. They were kind enough to email back and say I needed to USPS the docs as gmail and yahoo email address attachments are stripped from any emails they receive due to cyber issues. My email address is a gmail address. So, I snail mailed them. Ok, a fast snail using Priority Mail. Let's see what they have to say.

Thanks for all the help.

Aloha

[GBArmy]

Hi Diamondrichlb Looking for closure on something like receiving your PH is going to be a daunting task. All the service branches are hyper sensitive when it comes to incomplete awards, and they should be. There are a few slugs out there that try to use stolen valor for their own gain. And I am not suggesting that is what you are trying to do. I had some experience getting a replacement Silver Star for a Korean War veteran, and that was a real hasel. Your task is considerably harder. Start a file; you are probably going to need it. Wait for their response. In all likelyhood, it will be a nice denial letter, but it should have a reference number on it. If denied, try to contact the officer who signs off on the letter and find you what steps you can do.He or she is probably going to be key in moving forward, so try to get them to realize this is real. If you have kept contact with anyone in your unit who might remember what happened to you, a buddy letter certainly can't hurt. Can you locate your CO or platoon leader and ask them if they remember anything? I doubt if your congressmen will be of any help until you have a lot of evidence and it is stuck at the awards branch someplace. But, if it is important to you, go after it. I wish you well in your quest, brother.

 

[Diamondrichlb]

Hi GBArmy, Yes, I am under no false hope that the Awards Branch is just going to hand me my Purple Heart after this current step. While the letter and clinic documents are genuine and real, it would be too easy if they took that as the total package. Life is hardly ever like that. 

My platoon leader at the time has died. He was the one who took me to the clinic. 

I can get a buddy letter from my roommate at the time.

It would be great to find the 1st Lt who was in the right seat, but I have no idea how to go about that. I don't know his name and he was from another unit.

There were only 4 of us Army pilots in the Unit at any one time as we were TDY to an Air Force base.

My records don't show the TDY orders. Someone told me the TDY orders would be in the Company records. If true, my TDY orders as well as the 1st Lt. TDY orders from the other unit would be in his Unit records. Is it possible to obtain Company records?

There were holes in both wings and the cockpit and damage to the equipment in the cockpit that was hit. Do you know of any way to get maintenance records for the aircraft from that long ago? That could at least show it happened.

Any suggestions from anyone who has gone thru this process will be greatly appreciated.

 

[GBArmy]

I know that TDY records were mostly rare to non-existent. There should be company records, but they are typically sketchy also. You should try your idea of 4 other pilots might be a lead if you can get their I.D.; they probably knew about what happen to you. Equipment/repair orders is probably not going to happen; they just fixed them and pushed them out most of the time unless they went to Clark or someplace else for repair. Get the buddy letter and request company record (use SF 180 form.) Don't give up. Army guys don't give up. Aloha right back at ya.

[Diamondrichlb]

Hmmmm......if I could get a unit roster from the other unit taking over the mission I might be able to recognize the name. There could not have been that many 1st Lt. pilots in the unit. Most of the pilots were CW-2 or Captains.

Can I request the unit records from a unit I was not a member of? And can I ask for just certain parts of the Unit records like the roster?

[Diamondrichlb]

I just heard from my roommate during the time this happened. He remembers the incident, the holes in the aircraft, and the injuries to my leg. He has offered to write a letter on my behalf. Surely, that will help.