Belated recognition a balm for Vietnam veteran

Things like this happened all the time. When my husband was awarded his Bronze Star, he looked at the certificate and said it had the wrong social security number typed in. His CO said it would be fixed and since it ended up on his DD214, he figured no problem. The local newspaper reported on the award and he did have all the paperwork to go with it, but that was not the end of the story.

He applied for disability but was told that there was not record of his receiving a Bronze Star. Way too long of a story, somehow I managed to get in touch with a General and his aid gave him copies of all the paperwork we had, all with the same wrong social security number on it and we even sent the copy of the old newspaper article his Mom saved. The General had it fixed.

The problem is with so many fakes running around making claims when they weren't even in Vietnam, it ends up making the real veterans suffer and have a harder time proving they are telling the truth.

The only thing that I don't understand is how could this veteran be awarded 4 Bronze Stars and not know anything about it? How messed up was the Army back then?

Belated recognition a balm for Vietnam veteran
By Liz Carey
Posted May 14, 2010 at 4:36 p.m.

ANDERSON — For 40 years, Danny Glenn didn’t know he had been awarded a Bronze Star in Vietnam.

It wasn’t until he applied for military benefits that he found he had been awarded not one, but four.

For him, it makes up for years of feeling unappreciated for his service.

Glenn, who lives in Fair Play, served in Cuchi, Vietnam, in the 25th infantry. Wounded four times in battle, he spent a year battling the enemy. He won’t talk much about what happened there, said his wife, Alice.

But harder than being there was coming home, he said.

“I was sitting there talking to the guy who was helping me with the paperwork and I said, ‘That’s not my Social Security number.’ The last number was wrong,” he said.

With a little help and some research, Glenn was able to get his Social Security number corrected. When he applied for the assistance, the right number went through the system and the Army sent him a letter letting him know he had been awarded several medals — a good-conduct medal, a meritorious unit commendation, a National Defense Service medal, sharpshooter badge, an expert rifle badge and four Bronze stars.

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Belated recognition a balm for Vietnam veteran