Soldier Receives Medals 66 years Later

[MA-Caver]

I'm not sure about the process it takes to have a medal awarded for valor or other meritorious deeds performed during war time, but it's odd that it took such a long time to award this man seven of the Army's highest medals.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — More than six decades after being freed from a Japanese prisoner of war camp, a Utah veteran was compelled to relive the horrors and triumphs of his World War II experience this month when he received a mysterious package containing seven military medals, including the Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star.

The medals have become a source of pride for retired Army Capt. Tom Harrison, 93, since they arrived in a box with nothing more than a packing slip from a logistics center in Philadelphia on Nov. 4, which happened to be his 65th wedding anniversary. But they have also refreshed painful memories of the Bataan Death March, POW camps and the comrades he lost during the war or in the years since.
Harrison can talk at length about his time as a soldier in the Philippines. But he talks about it much like he talks about golf, focusing on small details — be it the flight of a well-hit tee shot or the day he met Gen. Douglass MacArthur — and the people that surrounded him. He doesn't dwell on his own valor.

http://news.yahoo.com/utah-man-receives-war-medals-66-years-153124148.html

 

[sfs982000]

It's a shame that it took that long for them to recognize him for his actions, but the biggest shame is that they just mailed them to his house without so much a letter explaining anything. I worked the Awards and Decs process for awhile and I know that medals for valor are processed at a higher level than most and take time to validate the claims that the member is being awarded for, but still I don't think letter expressing gratitude for his service/actions is too much to ask.

 

[granfire]

kinda like chucking them at his feet....
Sad.

 

[sfs982000]

kinda like chucking them at his feet....
Sad.

My thoughts exactly!!! It just seems that the higher ups really dropped the ball and missed a perfect opportunity to recognize a war hero on Veterans Day. As a military member you really have to respect the past sacrifices of your fellow soliders, sailors, marines and airmen who came before you because it was because of their sacrifices that enable us to continue to serve and protect the freedoms shared by so many.

 

[Sukerkin]

This is the sort of thing that makes me rage inside at bureaucracies and the infernally slow turning of their wheels. Altho' the article explains that many medals (as differentiated from ribbons) have gone un-issued because the regulations require people to apply for them (due to a post-war shortage of metals apparently) that does not make it any less shameful than the valour of these men has gone unrecognised, in terms of a physical, visible, commemoration of it, for so long.