thedrifter
01-09-09, 07:40 AM
Military honor received after 43-year wait
Fort Lewis is the setting for an emotional Purple Heart ceremony more than 43 years after a young Marine was hurt in Vietnam. The corpsman who treated him attends.
SCOTT FONTAINE; scott.fontaine@thenewstribune.com
Published: January 9th, 2009 02:54 AM | Updated: January 9th, 2009 02:54 AM
The war is long over. His leg has healed. But a former Marine received a long overdue honor Thursday at Fort Lewis.
Richard Beard, who fought in the Vietnam War in 1965-66, received a Purple Heart for shrapnel injuries he received more than 40 years ago during an emotional ceremony at the Marine Home Site Training Center at the local Army post.
His wife, Rozellen, and several members of Beard’s platoon were in attendance, plus Gary Shreve, the corpsman who treated him on a hillside just south of Danang.
“I can’t explain what this means,” said Beard, a 62-year-old Bellevue resident. “It’s been so long, but it’s such a huge part of my life that will never go away.”
He received his wounds Sept. 11, 1965, when he was a private first class in a mortar unit. He and other members of 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment were given the mission of setting up a command center on a hillside.
But the helicopters bringing them in unloaded them in the wrong area – in the middle of a minefield.
The battalion commander and a nearby radioman stepped on a mine and died just minutes after they landed.
“It was the most difficult night of my life,” Shreve said. “It was just a horrendous day.”
Beard was setting up an 81mm mortar when a mine exploded. Most of the shrapnel hit a nearby rock, but pieces of metal and rock went into his right leg. Shreve treated him and moved on to others because Beard’s injuries weren’t life-threatening.
Beard served five more months in Vietnam. He left the Corps in 1967 without receiving recognition for his injury and went on to a career as a heavy equipment operator. He has three children and seven grandchildren.
Shreve and Beard met at a battalion reunion last year in Orlando. Shreve learned Beard had never received his Purple Heart.
After the reunion, he wrote a letter to the Commandant of the Marine Corps’ office explaining what happened. That started the process that led to Thursday’s ceremony.
“We’re going to make something right that should have been done years ago,” site commander Lt. Col. Jim Stocks said.
As 16 Marines stood at attention, Stocks told the 30 people in attendance Beard’s story. He then pinned the Purple Heart on Beard’s denim shirt and shook his hand.
Beard smiled and appeared on the edge of tears at times.
“I’m a stressed-out vet,” he said. “This is recovery. This is part of the healing process.”
After the ceremony, many of the Vietnam veterans traded war stories with the active-duty Marines, who wore their dress blues. It’s that camaraderie, Beard said, that has kept so many of his unit in contact with each other.
“I have a lot of brothers here,” he said. “All Marines are my brothers – past, present, future. They always will be.”
Scott Fontaine: 253-320-4758
blogs.thenewstribune.com/military
Ellie
Fort Lewis is the setting for an emotional Purple Heart ceremony more than 43 years after a young Marine was hurt in Vietnam. The corpsman who treated him attends.
SCOTT FONTAINE; scott.fontaine@thenewstribune.com
Published: January 9th, 2009 02:54 AM | Updated: January 9th, 2009 02:54 AM
The war is long over. His leg has healed. But a former Marine received a long overdue honor Thursday at Fort Lewis.
Richard Beard, who fought in the Vietnam War in 1965-66, received a Purple Heart for shrapnel injuries he received more than 40 years ago during an emotional ceremony at the Marine Home Site Training Center at the local Army post.
His wife, Rozellen, and several members of Beard’s platoon were in attendance, plus Gary Shreve, the corpsman who treated him on a hillside just south of Danang.
“I can’t explain what this means,” said Beard, a 62-year-old Bellevue resident. “It’s been so long, but it’s such a huge part of my life that will never go away.”
He received his wounds Sept. 11, 1965, when he was a private first class in a mortar unit. He and other members of 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment were given the mission of setting up a command center on a hillside.
But the helicopters bringing them in unloaded them in the wrong area – in the middle of a minefield.
The battalion commander and a nearby radioman stepped on a mine and died just minutes after they landed.
“It was the most difficult night of my life,” Shreve said. “It was just a horrendous day.”
Beard was setting up an 81mm mortar when a mine exploded. Most of the shrapnel hit a nearby rock, but pieces of metal and rock went into his right leg. Shreve treated him and moved on to others because Beard’s injuries weren’t life-threatening.
Beard served five more months in Vietnam. He left the Corps in 1967 without receiving recognition for his injury and went on to a career as a heavy equipment operator. He has three children and seven grandchildren.
Shreve and Beard met at a battalion reunion last year in Orlando. Shreve learned Beard had never received his Purple Heart.
After the reunion, he wrote a letter to the Commandant of the Marine Corps’ office explaining what happened. That started the process that led to Thursday’s ceremony.
“We’re going to make something right that should have been done years ago,” site commander Lt. Col. Jim Stocks said.
As 16 Marines stood at attention, Stocks told the 30 people in attendance Beard’s story. He then pinned the Purple Heart on Beard’s denim shirt and shook his hand.
Beard smiled and appeared on the edge of tears at times.
“I’m a stressed-out vet,” he said. “This is recovery. This is part of the healing process.”
After the ceremony, many of the Vietnam veterans traded war stories with the active-duty Marines, who wore their dress blues. It’s that camaraderie, Beard said, that has kept so many of his unit in contact with each other.
“I have a lot of brothers here,” he said. “All Marines are my brothers – past, present, future. They always will be.”
Scott Fontaine: 253-320-4758
blogs.thenewstribune.com/military
Ellie