Texas Ranger Finally Gets Bronze Star Medal After Vietnam War

Medal pinned on Texas Ranger's chest 45 years after he left Vietnam jungle
'This is for the soldiers,' Texas Ranger says of Army medal
Houston Chronicle
By Dane Schiller
December 27, 2015

Photo: Courtesy Of Joe Haralson
This photograph was taken in Vietnam in 1970 of Army soldiers Nicholas Clay Jasper, of Arkansas (left) and Joe Haralson, now a Texas Ranger based in Texas City, who was recently presented with a Bronze Star Medal for his service. The men went on reconnaissance missions together, and their friendship lasted after the war. Haralson is quick to note that he is just one of many who faced similar circumstances in combat.

By the summer of 1971, Joe Haralson had returned from the jungles of Vietnam, married his high school sweetheart and started his career as a Texas state trooper.

An envelope arrived in the mail from the U.S. government. It was larger than the one that came two years earlier telling him he'd been drafted into the Army.

This one held a citation stating he had earned the Bronze Star Medal for his actions in combat. There was no medal enclosed or a follow-up ceremony. That was fine with Haralson, who didn't feel the Army owed him a thing, as he'd returned home alive and unharmed - unlike so many others.

That would be the last he'd hear from the Army, until recently, when a general walked in on a meeting of Texas Rangers.
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