AO Mother and Son of Veteran - Followup info from previous topic

[Foxhound6]

Berta and all. Here is what I have so far from my friend and his mother that I was speaking about the other day. From what I can tell, They do have the DD214 and DD215's. However, there DD214 itself does not show any type of locations of service as the newer ones do.It does show a previous command which I assume is the one he deployed with. I took notice of the "Foreign/Seas service" section of his 214 and noticed he has Foreign service for 11 months and 20 or so days, just long enough to be in Vietnam... However, I feel I may have to dig up records pertaining to that unit at the time in order to prove it? I am unsure on that exactly. It was also strange they had 2 DD215's, also unsure what to make of that. *edit - I remember the wife speaking about the veteran making a stop in Okinawa before Vietnam. I found a unit that fits that timeline of when the veteran would have arrive in Okinawa to link up with as a support engineer. I dont have a way to confirm, but it fits...:

" On July 4, 1965, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines was ordered to Vietnam. During this first year 9th Marines took part in approximately 45 battalion-sized and several company-sized operations. During the next four years 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines operated in or around Danang, Hue, Phu Bai, Dong Ha, Camp Carrol, Cam Lo, Con Thien, Than Cam Son, Quanq Tri, Cua Viet, Vandergrift Combat Base and Khe Sanh. For its actions in Vietnam 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines was awarded a third Presidential Unit Citation, a bronze star in lieu of second award of the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with two silver stars, and Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm. In August 1969, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines left Vietnam and returned to Okinawa. Its role in the Southeast Asian Conflict ended with the recapture of the Mayaquez and the landing on Koh Tang Island in May 1975 (Veteran completed his training sometime in 1969). In February 1979, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines became the first battalion to rotate to the United States as part of the unit deployment program. " via http://www.2ndbattalion9thmarines.org/About_Us

As far as medical is concerned, I believe I have enough to prove the VA wrong. The mother has HUNDREDS upon HUNDREDS of medical records pertaining to his disability. I couldn't copy them all but I found many pertinent ones that show the initial DX plus ongoing treatment. I am posting all of it here in hopes someone might make more sense of it along with the Rating decision. Sorry for some of the photos, the mother found more docs after I left and sent them via her phone.

 

Matt Spina Bifida_Redacted.pdf

Edited November 25, 2019 by Foxhound6
Possible unit

[Berta]

Thanks for the Unit info- this post is from 2008 but o

Obviously this vet had problems too proving he was in Vietnam:

http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?66497-anybody-serve-with-SPT-CO-H-amp-S-BN-3DFSR-FMF

http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-66497.html

It is an old post but depicts what I meant about those medals from Vietnam Gov- they should be on the DD 215 if he  was there.

[Berta]

Question, you mentioned DD215's, -----they -the family- don't have more than one DD 215, do they?

[Foxhound6]

3 minutes ago, Berta said:

Question, you mentioned DD215's, -----they -the family- don't have more than one DD 215, do they?

They do.. I feel like while they were trying to correct dates, they misunderstood how the 214's worked and may have fouled it up some. I am not sure. Both were correcting Separation dates.

 

[Berta]

One more question-can you scan the DD 214 just before the VA decision stuff- so we can see the whole thing better?

What I am concerned about is the dates of his overseas service and why it says 2nd MARDIV- because the 3rd MARDIV, which my husband was in, at Lejeune, was changed to 1st MARDIV by Admiral Zumwalt, early on in the Rolling Thunder, Starlight and other First Wave ops , 1965,  my husband was in. Thus I would assume this vet was also in 1stMARDIV in Vietnam.

 

[Foxhound6]

41 minutes ago, Berta said:

One more question-can you scan the DD 214 just before the VA decision stuff- so we can see the whole thing better?

What I am concerned about is the dates of his overseas service and why it says 2nd MARDIV- because the 3rd MARDIV, which my husband was in, at Lejeune, was changed to 1st MARDIV by Admiral Zumwalt, early on in the Rolling Thunder, Starlight and other First Wave ops , 1965,  my husband was in. Thus I would assume this vet was also in 1stMARDIV in Vietnam.

-Interesting to know, Berta. After doing some research via the 1st MARDIV site under the history page, I found this info regarding timeline:

"During the 1968 Tet Offensive, the division was involved in fierce fighting with both Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army elements. It successfully beat back and decimated every enemy assault in its area of operations, pursuing the enemy into its sanctuaries. It was during this period that the division received its seventh and eighth PUCs.  After six hard years, the 1st Marine Division returned to California in 1971, closing another chapter of dedicated service to Corps and country."

It could be possible this veteran linked up with 1st MARDIV on their way out the last year...maybe getting lost in the last year of being there??  He was shipped out of CamPen to Okinawa per my earlier post with the veterans travel document. It is a head scratcher...

 

Berta - Is this any better?

Edited November 26, 2019 by Foxhound6

[Foxhound6]

Found something based on the 3d-FSR FMF unit the veteran was assigned to in Okinawa! Granted this is WIKI, I know. However, I am sure I can find more regarding this unit somewhere. I found this VERY interesting...

Edited November 26, 2019 by Foxhound6