Vietnam Veteran Finally Gets Medal After 48 Years

Worcester Vietnam veteran receives medals 48 years later 
Telegram and Gazette
By Samantha Allen
Posted Aug. 6, 2015

“There’s an old cliché in the Army, ‘Hurry up and wait,’ ” he said Thursday. “So it’s been 48 years.”

Robert LaRose Jr. pins a medal on his father, retired firefighter and Vietnam War veteran Robert LaRose, during a ceremony Thursday at the office of U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern in Worcester. Looking on is Mr. LaRose's other son, Tim LaRose. T and G Staff/Steve Lanava

WORCESTER – Retired Firefighter Robert LaRose, a lifelong resident of the city, hasn’t been to the Massachusetts Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Green Hill Park yet.

Having known several of the Worcester men whose names are etched into the granite markers, he finds the memorial difficult to go and see in more ways than one, he said.

Mr. LaRose, 67, reflected on his two tours in Vietnam with the U.S. Army artillery unit Thursday, moments before U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, presented him with several medals that had never come. Mr. LaRose’s family reached out to the military to rectify the situation when they realized their father and grandfather was never recognized for his efforts more than four decades before. Mr. LaRose said he heard there was a fire at a national office that slowed the process, and then typical “red tape” ensued.
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