Bob Moore Jr. awarded Silver Star 43 years after heroic action in Vietnam
by Geoff Folsom
Marietta Daily Journal
July 17, 2012
MARIETTA — Retired Army Capt. Robert “Bob” Moore Jr. said he was surprised on June 6 to hear he had received the Silver Star for his actions in Vietnam more than four decades ago.
Moore, now 66, said he knew an award application had been resubmitted two years ago, and that the office of U.S. Rep Phil Gingrey (R-Marietta) was working on his behalf. But the application that was submitted sought a Bronze Star, so Moore was taken aback when he found out the Awards and Decorations Branch determined he had earned the Silver Star, the Army’s third highest honor.
“I was stunned. I started crying,” he said. “It brings closure to my Vietnam experience.”
On Friday — the 43rd anniversary of the day when Moore lead his platoon to regroup and secure the area after a booby trap exploded while on a search and destroy mission in the Phan Thiet area east of Saigon — a flag was flown in his honor over the U.S. Capitol in Washington. On Monday, he received the award, as well as the flag, at a half-hour ceremony before 250 people at the Joint Headquarters Building at Clay National Guard Center in Marietta.
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Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Vietnam Vet Doug Sterner, curator of the courageous
A Vietnam vet's growing database and quest to prevent 'forgotten valor'
By CHRIS CARROLL
Stars and Stripes
Published: July 16, 2012
WASHINGTON — Wiry and quick at age 62, Doug Sterner nearly leaped out of his chair to pull a folder off a shelf. It was a list of Army medal recipients that couldn’t possibly exist. Officials believed the only copies of personnel files needed to assemble it — along with some 18 million files in total — were consumed in a fire at a military personnel records center in St. Louis in 1973.
Yet there it was, shelved in a converted bedroom in his Alexandria, Va., apartment with hundreds of other color-coded folders containing more documentation of heroism that might otherwise be forgotten.
“That fire is the biggest dodge,” he said.
Thanks to the Army’s bureaucratic redundancy, most of what he needed to assemble this list was filed at National Archives in College Park, Md. Yet the fire was one of several reasons cited by the Department of Defense for not attempting to assemble a list of military valor medals.
“Anyone who says this can’t be done simply doesn’t have the will to do it,” Sterner said.
For nearly 15 years, as the DOD demurred, Sterner, a Vietnam veteran and former Army combat engineer, did the work himself. He abandoned the mountain views of Pueblo, Colo. — he and his wife had led a drive to change the town’s official nickname to “Home of Heroes” to honor four the city’s four living Medal of Honor recipients — for the northern Virginia suburbs to be closer to existing records.
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By CHRIS CARROLL
Stars and Stripes
Published: July 16, 2012
WASHINGTON — Wiry and quick at age 62, Doug Sterner nearly leaped out of his chair to pull a folder off a shelf. It was a list of Army medal recipients that couldn’t possibly exist. Officials believed the only copies of personnel files needed to assemble it — along with some 18 million files in total — were consumed in a fire at a military personnel records center in St. Louis in 1973.
Yet there it was, shelved in a converted bedroom in his Alexandria, Va., apartment with hundreds of other color-coded folders containing more documentation of heroism that might otherwise be forgotten.
“That fire is the biggest dodge,” he said.
Thanks to the Army’s bureaucratic redundancy, most of what he needed to assemble this list was filed at National Archives in College Park, Md. Yet the fire was one of several reasons cited by the Department of Defense for not attempting to assemble a list of military valor medals.
“Anyone who says this can’t be done simply doesn’t have the will to do it,” Sterner said.
For nearly 15 years, as the DOD demurred, Sterner, a Vietnam veteran and former Army combat engineer, did the work himself. He abandoned the mountain views of Pueblo, Colo. — he and his wife had led a drive to change the town’s official nickname to “Home of Heroes” to honor four the city’s four living Medal of Honor recipients — for the northern Virginia suburbs to be closer to existing records.
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Army probes Wainwright soldier’s death
Army probes Wainwright soldier’s death
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jul 16, 2012
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A Fort Wainwright soldier was pronounced dead at a Fairbanks hospital after being transported there from his barracks with a severe head injury.
U.S. Army Alaska spokesman Chuck Canterbury on Monday announced the death but few other details from the Sunday incident.
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The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jul 16, 2012
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A Fort Wainwright soldier was pronounced dead at a Fairbanks hospital after being transported there from his barracks with a severe head injury.
U.S. Army Alaska spokesman Chuck Canterbury on Monday announced the death but few other details from the Sunday incident.
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White House snuffs out pot for PTSD petition
No pot for PTSD, White House says
By Patricia Kime
Staff writer
Army Times
Posted : Tuesday Jul 17, 2012
An effort to persuade the Obama administration to legalize marijuana for sufferers of post-traumatic stress has met with a sound rejection from the White House.
Responding to a petition signed by 8,258 people on the White House website, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Gil Kerlikowske wrote last month that marijuana is not a “benign drug” and does not meet standards of safe or effective medicine.
“When the President took office, he directed all his policymakers to develop policies on science and research, not ideology or politics,” Kerlikowske wrote.
The White House usually requires 25,000 signatures before it will respond to such petitions.
The “Allow United States Disabled Military Veterans Access To Medical Marijuana To Treat Their PTSD” petition was launched last year by former Air Force Sgt. Mike Krawitz, executive director of Veterans for Medical Cannabis Access.
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By Patricia Kime
Staff writer
Army Times
Posted : Tuesday Jul 17, 2012
An effort to persuade the Obama administration to legalize marijuana for sufferers of post-traumatic stress has met with a sound rejection from the White House.
Responding to a petition signed by 8,258 people on the White House website, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Gil Kerlikowske wrote last month that marijuana is not a “benign drug” and does not meet standards of safe or effective medicine.
“When the President took office, he directed all his policymakers to develop policies on science and research, not ideology or politics,” Kerlikowske wrote.
The White House usually requires 25,000 signatures before it will respond to such petitions.
The “Allow United States Disabled Military Veterans Access To Medical Marijuana To Treat Their PTSD” petition was launched last year by former Air Force Sgt. Mike Krawitz, executive director of Veterans for Medical Cannabis Access.
read more here
Operation Tyler kicked off by Gary Sinise
Gary Sinise promotes upcoming concert
By MATT EVANS
KBIA
Gary Sinise joined others involved in "Operation Tyler" via Skype at an event Tuesday.
Gary Sinise, also known as Lt. Dan from the movie Forest Gump, will be part of an upcoming benefit concert for veterans. The Lieutenant Dan Band will be playing at Apple Creek Farms on July 27 to raise funds for “Operation Tyler.” It’s a push to put Marine Lance CPL Tyler Huffman, his wife and their two-year-old son into a new, more accessible home.
The 24-year-old Huffman was paralyzed in Afghanistan in 2010 when he was shot by a sniper.
read more here
By MATT EVANS
KBIA
Gary Sinise joined others involved in "Operation Tyler" via Skype at an event Tuesday.
Gary Sinise, also known as Lt. Dan from the movie Forest Gump, will be part of an upcoming benefit concert for veterans. The Lieutenant Dan Band will be playing at Apple Creek Farms on July 27 to raise funds for “Operation Tyler.” It’s a push to put Marine Lance CPL Tyler Huffman, his wife and their two-year-old son into a new, more accessible home.
The 24-year-old Huffman was paralyzed in Afghanistan in 2010 when he was shot by a sniper.
read more here
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