SwiftVets.com

SBD · Admiral Joined: 19 Aug 2004 Posts: 1022

Murtha received his Bronze Star V one year after his service and during his campaign for the 22nd Congressional District according to an article from The Daily Courier dated October 21, 1968. The article says he served one year in Vietnam from August 18, 1966 to July 1, 1967 yet he received his Bronze Star over one year later.

Link to Article

SBD

mtboone · Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 2:06 am Post subject:

SBD
Senior Member

Joined: 19 Aug 2004
Posts: 907

Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 1:06 am Post subject: Murtha Received Bronze Star V One Year After Service

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Murtha received his Bronze Star V one year after his service and during his campaign for the 22nd Congressional District according to an article from The Daily Courier dated October 21, 1968. The article says he served one year in Vietnam from August 18, 1966 to July 1, 1967 yet he received his Bronze Star over one year later.

Link to Article

That is not so unusual and I would not use this as a fighting point. Paper work gets delayed and it is not a priority issue during a war fpr such a low priority award.

Medals in some branch of the services were handed out like candy but that was mostly in the Army and not the Marines.
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Terry Boone PCF 90
Qui Nhon 68-69

SBD · Admiral Joined: 19 Aug 2004 Posts: 1022

Yes, but most awards don't get handed out with a ceremony that makes the second page of the local paper a few weeks before an election you just so happen to be running in!!

Also, since when do you get a Bronze Star with a "V" for avoiding mines and snipers??

That is what the story says isn't it?

SBD

Me#1You#10 · Site Admin Joined: 06 May 2004 Posts: 6503

LewWaters · Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 3:59 am Post subject:

I would be very careful making any accusations about Military Service, merited or not. As happened with Kerry, they can pull out Military Files and claim sour grapes on the accusers.

Just like Kerry, Murtha has a lot of dirt to spread around after his service. That is where they are the most vulnerable, I feel.

But, unless you have concrete irrefutable proof of malfeasance with Medals and Awards, I would ignore them and attack elsewhere.

I feel the American Public takes all Military Medals as earned and looks negatively on those who attack over Medals. We all know they can and have been faked, but the average citizen can't see that or believe it.

Kerry and Murtha both will go down due to their egregious actions after Viet Nam.
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Clark County Conservative

Me#1You#10 · Site Admin Joined: 06 May 2004 Posts: 6503

LewWaters · Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 4:17 am Post subject:

J. Toy · Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 6:07 am Post subject:

FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH

http://dickmcdonald.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_dickmcdonald_archive.html

Thursday, July 27, 2006

'Murtha is not a war hero'

Account of Bill Fry, Major, US Marines (Retired)

In 1954 I had an Agriculture teacher in Johnstown, PA, who was a well-known local resident. He was a WWII veteran who took advantage of the GI Bill and went to college. In the early 1950's he was about to get recalled for Korea, so he went into the Marine Corps as a lieutenant. I know very little about this man's military career, except that he retired as a reserve lieutenant colonel many years later. His name was Bob Wagner

While Bob was teaching me Agriculture, he had the occasion to beat the hell out of me because of a major infraction to the rules of the school. He once broke a ¾ inch thick, 3-inch-wide paddle over my posterior, and I could not sit down for 7 days. I had made up my mind that I was not going to scream or beg for lenience, and therefore the beating continued till the paddle was in splinters.

Bob at that time was the Commanding Officer of the 34th Special Infantry Company in Johnstown, PA. One day he asked me what I was planning on doing with my life, and I told him I was going to be a Marine. This pleased him very much as he said, "You will make a good one," or words to that effect. Bob picked me up and took me to a drill when I was 16, and that just set my heart afire.

The unit was leaving for summer camp on the 19th of June, 1955, which just happened to be my 17th birthday. Bob went to all the trouble to get my enlistment papers post-dated with the proper parent's signatures and issue me a basic sea bag prior to my 17th birthday. On the 19th he swore me in, and we loaded the plane for summer camp. You could not have been any greener than I was, and, as I look back on it, he kept a pretty personal eye on me for the two weeks of camp, which went very well.

All this is given as background for my relationship with John Murtha.

John Murtha spent a few years in the Marine Corps as an enlisted man and then went to college, got a Reserve commission, and joined the 34th Special Infantry Company in Johnstown. He later became the Commander Officer. I spent my first tour in Viet Nam in 1965 and 1966 and therefore missed Murtha, the war hero. However, I had a tour at Headquarters, Fleet Marine Forces Pacific, in Hawaii in 1968 and 1969, and the stories were still bouncing around about this reserve major from Johnstown who went to Viet Nam and sent his daily information to the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat telling his fantastic war stories. They were labeled "Murtha Sends". While in FMF Pac I was the Head Systems Officer in the Computer Automated Center. I had the opportunity to design and implement a system to control and track all awards coming through FMF Pac. Having heard of this war hero from Johnstown, I took it upon myself to look in the data base and, lo and behold! There were no personal awards for Murtha. I never thought any more about it until I saw that he is now being touted as a war hero with 2 Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star with Combat "V." This, of course, made me curious.

However, let's get back to the main theme of the story:

Upon my retirement from the Marine Corps, I took employment with the City of Albany, Georgia. In my capacity as Director of Management Information Systems, I, after some years, became the International President of the Users Group "Government Management Information Systems (GMIS)." One of my opportunities during my year as President was to travel to Greensburg, PA, to enact a state chapter in PA. During discussions with the Director of Westmoreland County Information System, I just happened to mention that I was raised up the road about 30 miles and mentioned my high school. He said, "Hey, I have a good friend who taught there--Bob Wagner."

I was elated and asked if I could get in touch with Bob. He called him on the spot, and we had a short phone reunion during which he asked me to come to his house for a visit after a planned dinner with the Users Group. This I did, and we had a great evening. I was astonished to see that Bob had maintained a scrapbook on my military career; he brought it out and showed it to me. What a great tribute to receive from your mentor.

In the course of the evening we talked about the 34th Infantry Co., and Bob said, "Hey did you run into a Major in Viet Nam by the name of Murtha? He took a year off from washing cars to go to Viet Nam and politic his way into Congress. Then Bob told me what a disgrace he had been in the eyes of the officers with whom he served.

I never gave his comments about Murtha much thought, but I did on occasion write to Murtha and to get his support for veteran's issues, which he regularly did not do. I thought this rather odd, in that he was a retired reserve officer and boasted about supporting the troops.

On the occasion of his attacks on the troops and the nation's Iraq policy, I again took interest, as he was described as an injured war hero. John Murtha is not a war hero. I am certain if and when the truth comes out one will find that his awards were given long after he left Viet Nam. Murtha is, in my opinion, a phony and has used his veteran's status to climb to the top of several committees where he can and does influence pork for Johnstown.

I would love to have it revealed as to the amount of federal monies he has sucked up for his constituency. I love the people of the 12th District. They are hard-working middle-class folks who do not understand how corrupt this guy is and how terrible it is for us retired Marines to have him described as a war hero.

Although I live in Ohio, I will do anything I can to see that he is defeated in the November election. He does not deserve to represent the good people of southwestern Pennsylvania.

-Bill Fry, Major, USMC (Ret.)
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Corpsman, 1969-1973

carpro · Admin Joined: 10 May 2004 Posts: 1176 Location: Texas

JN173 · Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 6:41 pm Post subject:

carpro · Admin Joined: 10 May 2004 Posts: 1176 Location: Texas

JN173 · Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 9:24 pm Post subject:

carpro · Admin Joined: 10 May 2004 Posts: 1176 Location: Texas

I'm not implying anything.

That's just the rules. Make of them what you wish.

An oversimplified way to look at it is that a Bronze Star is almost a "right" for an officer. Enlisted men below the rank of E5 usually have to actually do something to get one.

As a result, when I see a Bronze Star ribbon on an officers uniform, which almost all of them have, I have kind of a ho hum, so what reaction.
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"If he believes his 1971 indictment of his country and his fellow veterans was true, then he couldn't possibly be proud of his Vietnam service."