Hero’s grave displays wrong award
Our buddy, Jeff Schogol at Stares & Stripes emails us a link to an article about SFC Alwyn Cashe Who is being recommended for an upgrade of the Silver Star he was awarded for his actions in Iraq to the Medal of Honor, by one of our other buddies, Doug Sterner.
Apparently, someone goofed up Cash’s headstone by etching the wrong award on it;
Cashe’s family said Army officials had promised to replace the headstone with one acknowledging his Silver Star, but years have passed without any replacement arriving. The mistake is just the latest headache for the hero’s family, who have also struggled to get their deceased soldier’s awards records and medical files, as well as reimbursement for some funeral costs.
Cashe was awarded the Silver Star for repeatedly entering a burning Bradley Fighting vehicle to rescue his troops, and the Army can’t even get his headstone straight over the years?
Here’s the link to Stars & Stripes’ article about the battle for Cashe’s MOH.
Category: Dumbass Bullshit, Military issues
I just dont understand what the Army is doing.
How much time does it take to:
1) Verify the record.
2) Make a new headstone.
3) Replace the headstone.
Maybe it’s the nuke in me.
-B
sure…happens all the time.
Look at 1LT Jeffrey Kaylor’s gravestone on arlingtoncemetery.net (at the bottom)
Great friend and great young leader who will be missed.
Well, let’s see if he gets a new headstone if he gets the upgrade to MoH. If they decide not to upgrade (which, IMHO, they should and NOW), then I think we could take up a collection to get a new headstone made with the proper awards listed. It’s the least we could do for one of our own.
This should never happen. No family need this extra grief. We’re better than this.
Kaylor’s headstone is a TRAVESTY…There were plenty of news reports he was awarded the SS, it was engraved on his headstone at Arlington, and then removed as being in error. A sad way to treat the family of a dead hero. As for Cashe, he did ALSO get a BSM so it wasn’t a matter of putting the wrong award on his stone I don’t believe, but of not ADDING his Silver Star.
PLEASE ALL–we need to keep momentum going on Cashe…he is the “smoking gun” that refutes all of DoD’s excuses onthe low number of MOHs in GWOT. I’ve submitted a letter to SecArmy asking for a review and I have good reason to believe there is about to be a Congressional call for a complete review for all branches. This needs to be done, but we need to keep pressure on Congress to Demand it…that will get attention at the Pentagon.
IIRC:
– TAH reported that an Army general told Congress that Arlington’s management was going swimmingly.
– TAH reported the travesty of Arlington’s mis-management of remains, graves, and records.
Are SRC Cashe’s remains even under the headstone?
In a perverse way, I’m glad my family will never have to worry about burying me at Arlington. Just too much headache. I’m fine with the Veteran’s Cemetery here in Boscawen.
This crap is UNACCEPTABLE!!
I think the reason there haven’t been more MOHs awarded, is simply the nature of the war, especially in Iraq. Objective study has tended to at least support that hypothesis. There is still alot of subjectivity over who should receive it or the DSC and under what circumstances.
All that said, I agree, Cashe should get it. There was a logical explanation why he had not, easy enough to correct. Honor delayed does not have to mean honor denied.
[…] article goes on to mention a number of potential candidates including Alwyn Cashe who we mentioned the other day. The Army Times says; That’s a significantly lower rate than any other American war over the […]
Kaylor was one of the good guys for sure. Glad I knew him in school.
This is truly a travesty when the branch of service that this brave soldier gave his life to and for, can’t even do right by him and his family. Despite his heroic actions of, ‘conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her life above and beyond the call of duty,’ which clearly warrant the Medal of Honor, SFC Cashe is only recognized with the Silver Star. If willingly running into a burning Bradley over and over again to save your soldiers isn’t worth the Medal of Honor, I don’t know what is. The distinction of heroism away from the “battlefield” — a roadside bomb explosion isn’t considered an active battlefield for medal purposes, is a bunch of malarkey. There are numerous examples of recipients that have earned the Medal of Honor, that didn’t necessarily occur on the battlefield. Case in point; Staff Sergeant Henry Erwin, who served as a radio operator aboard a B-29 Superfortress in the Asia-Pacific theater. During a 1945 bombing mission over Koriyama, Japan, a phosphorus bomb prematurely exploded in his aircraft and seriously wounded him. As smoke filled the plane, he picked up the burning device and carried it through the aircraft to the cockpit where he tossed it out a window. Although he suffered severe burns, he successfully saved his plane by disposing of the smoke-generating bomb. Does anyone else see any similarities in SFC Cashe’s heroic actions and Staff Sergeant Erwin’s actions in World War II?