thedrifter
07-06-06, 12:18 PM
Vet gets Purple Heart 37 years after war wound
Some 37 years after the fact, a Tupper Lake veteran has received recognition for being wounded in combat in Vietnam.
Norman McFaul served with the 26th Marines in Vietnam in 1968-69 and was wounded in jungle combat in the latter year. Why he was overlooked in receiving his Purple Heart medal, McFaul said he isn’t sure.
“I don’t know why it was forgotten,” the 57-year-old retired veteran said. “It just didn’t happen.”
U.S. Rep. John McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor, pinned the medal on McFaul’s chest at a ceremony held on Independence Day at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3120 in Tupper Lake.
“The ceremony was very nice,” McFaul said.
After he returned to Tupper Lake, he went to work for the state of New York, working for 22 years at Sunmount and 12 years for the Department of Corrections, he said.
—Jacob Resneck
Ellie
Some 37 years after the fact, a Tupper Lake veteran has received recognition for being wounded in combat in Vietnam.
Norman McFaul served with the 26th Marines in Vietnam in 1968-69 and was wounded in jungle combat in the latter year. Why he was overlooked in receiving his Purple Heart medal, McFaul said he isn’t sure.
“I don’t know why it was forgotten,” the 57-year-old retired veteran said. “It just didn’t happen.”
U.S. Rep. John McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor, pinned the medal on McFaul’s chest at a ceremony held on Independence Day at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3120 in Tupper Lake.
“The ceremony was very nice,” McFaul said.
After he returned to Tupper Lake, he went to work for the state of New York, working for 22 years at Sunmount and 12 years for the Department of Corrections, he said.
—Jacob Resneck
Ellie