Better late then never.

Every once and a while I look up Fort Benning to see if anything comes up. Well today I found this.

Richard Dion can tell the story of his service in Vietnam with a few specific numbers. There’s the number of times he was shot during his service: three. The number of years he served: three. He can finally put a number on another chapter of his story after an awards ceremony at the Paramus Memorial Veterans Home Monday. It’s the number of years it took to receive the medals he earned for his sacrifice: 43.

I figured that we have been talking about losers and scumbags that we change subject.

“It’s an honor,” said Dion, 66, who served in Vietnam from 1965 to 1967, including at the Ia Drang Valley battle, and lives at the Veterans Home. “It’s a long time coming, for one. I’m just proud to be able to have served and earned them.”

Dion received five medals in a ceremony his family said was overlooked when he returned home from the war. Each medal was pinned on his chest by Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, who traveled from Washington, D.C. for the occasion. At the end, his 95-year old mother, members of his extended family and a crowd of residents and local veterans’ representatives shouted the word that, in the Army, covers everything from ‘Congratulations,’ to ‘Yessir,’ to ‘I’m at a loss for words:’ “Hooah!” they said.

It is nice to see stuff like this get fixed. Seemed that this is more common then one would think. But it is not just about the awards, pins and medals. These are the things that represent the things the each person faced in war.

… her father struggled with nightmares and asked his wife to help remove the shrapnel that periodically surfaced from a wound in his neck…

It is something that fakes and phonies will never get. So going out with with a fitting quote I will have to go with this one.

“This was not the reception he got when he came home, she said. “This was our time to do it right.”

Category: Military issues, Support the troops