thedrifter
07-30-08, 01:05 PM
An honor, overdue
By Mike Costanza, correspondent
Penfield Post
Wed Jul 30, 2008, 08:09 AM EDT
Penfield, N.Y. -
Richard Lynch remembers the dark night in 1969 when he and his team flew into a clearing in Vietnam to pick up three critically wounded Marines under heavy Viet Cong fire.
“Somebody had to go out and get these guys, or they wouldn’t survive,” said the Penfield resident.
On that September night nearly 40 years ago, a Marine detachment at a firebase in Quang Nam Province was under siege, taking heavy small arms and mortar fire. Spc. Lynch, a medic with the U.S. Army’s 236 Medical Detachment, flew in to pick up the wounded men at tree-top level in heavy rain and fog.
“We were ‘dust-off,’” Lynch said of his unit. “It’s in reality a helicopter ambulance.”
The monsoon weather was so bad that the pilot initially turned back. Then, receiving word by radio that one else could reach the three wounded men in time, he tried to reach the firebase again. The Marines had to fire a flare to guide the chopper in.
“It lit us up,” Lynch said. “They (the Viet Cong) then decided to start focusing on us, as well.”
Upon landing, the 21-year-old Lynch dashed out to help bring the wounded men to the helicopter while small-arms fire and mortar rounds poured into the base. His team then flew the Marines to a hospital in Da Nang for treatment. After the terrors of the trip in, caring for his patients gave the medic a kind of respite.
“Once they were aboard, you were focused on the wounded,” Lynch said.
On July 21, Col. Doug Shipman of the Army’s 98th Division pinned the Navy Commendation Medal with a “V” device on Lynch’s chest in a ceremony at Rochester’s Vet Center. The “V” has a special meaning.
Valor.
Ken Moore, president of Chapter 20 of the Vietnam Veterans of America, of Hilton, worked over the past eight years to help Lynch get the recognition he deserved for his actions on that night long ago. Moore said he has been working for the interests of local vets since he returned from Vietnam in 1967, including during the years he spent as a veterans service officer for Monroe County.
“I got actively involved in the POW issue, and (with) the families of POWs and MIAs,” Lynch said.
POWs are prisoners of war — service men or women who were captured by the enemy. The Missing in Action, or MIAs, are servicemen and women who were never recovered, their fates unknown. Lynch contacted his fellow Vietnam War vet after learning from a Veterans Administration official that he was eligible for the Commendation Medal. The situation was complicated from the outset, because Lynch was in the Army and he saved Marines. He received the medal from the Navy because the Marines are part of the Department of the Navy.
There followed a barrage of letters and calls to the Department of the Navy and the Department of Defense. Just getting someone to admit that the incident had occurred took some doing. Then, they had to find the necessary paperwork to verify the details of the incident in Quang Nam Province.
“In St. Louis, Mo., what you have is this huge warehouse, with papers and filing cabinets,” Moore said. “They have to physically find the file.”
The office of Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, tried to help with the matter, to no avail. After years of frustration, Lynch was ready to throw in the towel, but not Moore.
“The person who did the most work was Ken Moore,” Lynch said. “He was relentless.”
About a month ago, Lynch received a large envelope from the Department of the Navy. It was the citation for which he’d long waited.
“It was stamped ‘1970,’” he said.
Moore arranged for the ceremony at the Vets Center on Mt. Hope Avenue in Rochester, and then stood with about 30 of Lynch’s friends, family and fellow Vietnam veterans to watch him receive the honors.
Lynch has received other honors for his service in Vietnam, including the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. Now 60 years old and a respiratory therapist for Strong Memorial Hospital, he doesn’t talk much about those days, or the incident at Quang Nam Province.
“If any other soldier was in the same predicament, they would’ve done the same thing,” he said.
Jackie Lynch was much more willing to talk about watching her husband receive his medal. “I felt very proud,” she said.
And, what about those three Marines that he risked his own life to save?
“We heard later that all three of them did make it,” Lynch said.
Ellie
By Mike Costanza, correspondent
Penfield Post
Wed Jul 30, 2008, 08:09 AM EDT
Penfield, N.Y. -
Richard Lynch remembers the dark night in 1969 when he and his team flew into a clearing in Vietnam to pick up three critically wounded Marines under heavy Viet Cong fire.
“Somebody had to go out and get these guys, or they wouldn’t survive,” said the Penfield resident.
On that September night nearly 40 years ago, a Marine detachment at a firebase in Quang Nam Province was under siege, taking heavy small arms and mortar fire. Spc. Lynch, a medic with the U.S. Army’s 236 Medical Detachment, flew in to pick up the wounded men at tree-top level in heavy rain and fog.
“We were ‘dust-off,’” Lynch said of his unit. “It’s in reality a helicopter ambulance.”
The monsoon weather was so bad that the pilot initially turned back. Then, receiving word by radio that one else could reach the three wounded men in time, he tried to reach the firebase again. The Marines had to fire a flare to guide the chopper in.
“It lit us up,” Lynch said. “They (the Viet Cong) then decided to start focusing on us, as well.”
Upon landing, the 21-year-old Lynch dashed out to help bring the wounded men to the helicopter while small-arms fire and mortar rounds poured into the base. His team then flew the Marines to a hospital in Da Nang for treatment. After the terrors of the trip in, caring for his patients gave the medic a kind of respite.
“Once they were aboard, you were focused on the wounded,” Lynch said.
On July 21, Col. Doug Shipman of the Army’s 98th Division pinned the Navy Commendation Medal with a “V” device on Lynch’s chest in a ceremony at Rochester’s Vet Center. The “V” has a special meaning.
Valor.
Ken Moore, president of Chapter 20 of the Vietnam Veterans of America, of Hilton, worked over the past eight years to help Lynch get the recognition he deserved for his actions on that night long ago. Moore said he has been working for the interests of local vets since he returned from Vietnam in 1967, including during the years he spent as a veterans service officer for Monroe County.
“I got actively involved in the POW issue, and (with) the families of POWs and MIAs,” Lynch said.
POWs are prisoners of war — service men or women who were captured by the enemy. The Missing in Action, or MIAs, are servicemen and women who were never recovered, their fates unknown. Lynch contacted his fellow Vietnam War vet after learning from a Veterans Administration official that he was eligible for the Commendation Medal. The situation was complicated from the outset, because Lynch was in the Army and he saved Marines. He received the medal from the Navy because the Marines are part of the Department of the Navy.
There followed a barrage of letters and calls to the Department of the Navy and the Department of Defense. Just getting someone to admit that the incident had occurred took some doing. Then, they had to find the necessary paperwork to verify the details of the incident in Quang Nam Province.
“In St. Louis, Mo., what you have is this huge warehouse, with papers and filing cabinets,” Moore said. “They have to physically find the file.”
The office of Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, tried to help with the matter, to no avail. After years of frustration, Lynch was ready to throw in the towel, but not Moore.
“The person who did the most work was Ken Moore,” Lynch said. “He was relentless.”
About a month ago, Lynch received a large envelope from the Department of the Navy. It was the citation for which he’d long waited.
“It was stamped ‘1970,’” he said.
Moore arranged for the ceremony at the Vets Center on Mt. Hope Avenue in Rochester, and then stood with about 30 of Lynch’s friends, family and fellow Vietnam veterans to watch him receive the honors.
Lynch has received other honors for his service in Vietnam, including the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. Now 60 years old and a respiratory therapist for Strong Memorial Hospital, he doesn’t talk much about those days, or the incident at Quang Nam Province.
“If any other soldier was in the same predicament, they would’ve done the same thing,” he said.
Jackie Lynch was much more willing to talk about watching her husband receive his medal. “I felt very proud,” she said.
And, what about those three Marines that he risked his own life to save?
“We heard later that all three of them did make it,” Lynch said.
Ellie