SwiftVets.com

[RMalloy]

Senator Kerry, expert in rapid response medal accruement and replacement...........


Senator Kerry Applauds US Army for Streamlining the Medal Retrieval Process


Veterans will now have expedited access to military medals

Tuesday, April 24, 2001


Washington, DC – Senator John F. Kerry (D-MA) today applauded a decision by the US Army to fund an update to their process for issuing military medals that have been lost or, even worse, were never received by veterans.

The Department of the Army and the National Personnel Records Center coordinates veterans requests for replacements or issuance of these medals. Although theses request are made by children or grandchildren of the veterans in order to honor them, however, the arduously long processing time, often up to a year one year, can sometimes frustrate the honorees more than award them for their service. After working for years with veterans and their families who were caught in the process, Kerry's office approached the Army to work on a solution that would streamline and computerize the process.

"It's been all the honor I ever needed in my life to help families make sure their fathers and grandfathers finally received the medals their country owed them, and I've been touched to see the lengths to which families go to track down service records half a century old to get their loved ones their due," said Senator Kerry. "But I've also thought, again and again, 'it shouldn't be this hard'-- which is why I'm glad we've helped streamline the process so that veterans don't have to wait a lifetime for the medals they earned when they were young."

[The Balloon Artist]

Looking for a thread about AWC's medals, if off topic please relocate. Thanks

I remember watching the news when I was about 12 years of age. It showed someone holding medals/ribbons and discribing what they were. It may have been AWC himself. With what I know now, if the cameras were running it was AWC. He said, discribing the Purple Hearts, "Some men died to get these" before throwing them.

Those words echo in my mind today knowing how slight if at all AWC was "wounded".
How could he utter those words or even stand next to someone else saying that.
Then again it's easy to understand how little value "he" put on those ribbons.
_________________
What about John Kerry's four months in Vietnam qualify him to be president?
Al Gore was there for five.

[katagious]

I thought people might want to cross reference the documents at Kerry's site with those posted at Findlaw. http://news.findlaw.com/legalnews/lit/election2004/docs.html

[producehawk]

hillary egads

[Aristotle The Hun]

What would be the typical response of the Navy upon finding out that an honorably discharged veteran is fraudluently claiming awards/ What authority do the feds have on somethingl ike this?

Sam
_________________
Deportè Monsieur Kerrè

[zinfella]

Some of these violations are considered criminal in nature, and carry monetary fines and/or prison time.
_________________
No whiners!

[Dane]

I´ve mentioned this before and will keep doing so in the hopes that some legal type will look into it.

1. The nomination form 1650/3 is _not_ personal, protected information within a member´s service records. (And, perhaps, neither is the citation.) It is from the recommending officer to the Awarding Authority via the awardee´s chain-of-command. As such, it would appear to me that it comes under the FOIA and not the Privacy Act. Anyone can request a copy - especially the originating officer. I cannot do this since mail service to and from Chile is so slow. But someone in DC could get this done in a day.

2. The 1650.1G states that requests may be submitted to have an award reevaluated and verified. It does not state who may request this nor does it state who may NOT request it.

3. quoted from 1650.1G:

116. REQUIREMENT FOR HONORABLE SERVICE
1. Title 10 U.S. Code, Section 6249 provides that no
medal, cross, bar, or associated emblem or insignia may be
awarded or presented to any individual if the service after
the distinguishing act or period has not been honorable.
2. Any award for a distinguished act, achievement or
service may be revoked before presentation by the approval
authority, or after presentation by SECNAV, if facts,
subsequently determined, would have prevented the original
approval of the award, or if the awardee's service after
the distinguishing act, achievement or service has not been
honorable.
3. If the awardee's honorable service is questioned
after presentation of the award, forward the entire case to
NDBDM via CNO/CMC as appropriate for a determination and
final disposition.

end quote

4. Kerry´s contact with the North Viet government and the Viet Cong reps should certainly classify as dishonorable, given that he had no authorization from the Navy to establish this contact (I presume).

Somebody run with this ball or get the info to someone who can. It appears that JudicialWatch is taking this approach.

Dane