James Ring
Someone sent us their work on this James Ring, who passed away on July 18, 2017. His obituary read;
After graduating from Rosedale High School in KCK, Jim enlisted in the USMC where he proudly served his country during the Korean Conflict and the Viet Nam War, earning a Navy Congressional Medal of Honor. He rose through the ranks and retired as a Master Sargent in 1979.
A search of the Medal of Honor awardees failed to turn up his name, so we got his records;
He didn’t join the Marine Corps until 1956, so he missed the Korean War by three years. He went to Vietnam in 1967 and again in 1970, he earned a Combat Action Ribbon, but no Medal of Honor.
I’m chalking this up to family confusion, I’m pretty sure that a Master Sergeant with twenty years of honorable service wouldn’t leave his family to clean up this mess. So I’m not calling this stolen valor, we’re correcting the historical record. I wish only the best for the grieving family.
Category: Who knows
Agreed.
“I’m pretty sure that a Master Sergeant with twenty years of honorable service wouldn’t leave his family to clean up this mess.” –I don’t know about that. You have published some pretty strange cases of embellishers who had no reason to embellish, but agree that with no actual evidence that he was directly involved in creating the inaccuracies, he should be given the benefit of the doubt.
My family has no idea what I did in the military but that doesn’t stop them from making me out to be all sorts of things depending on who they are talking to.
They’re not confused, they just don’t know.
I didn’t know the Navy had it’s own MOH.
I’ll bet James didn’t either.
I had to sit my daughter down and explain to her that none of my awards are for valor after I seen some of her claims about me on facebook.
If FB had existed when I was a kid, that would have been me about my Dad.
Kids just naturally want their fathers to be the biggest heroes around – which they should be, for their children.
And I’ll bet your daughter still thinks of you as a hero.
“I didn’t know the Navy had it’s own MOH.”
That comment about the MOH stuck out to me too. You don’t normally see it referred to that way, but each service actually does have its own MOH. The design is a bit different for each medal depending on the service awarding it.
TNX. I did not kno that.
Technically, each branch of service DOES have its own design for the medal portion of the MOH. There are Army, Navy, and Air Force versions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honor
Since i was Airborne and servered during Grenada she is still telling people i jumped in and fought Commies. Nothing i say is going to change her mind on this point
The Army, Navy/(Marines/Coast Guard) and Air Force have different versions of the medal.
Families want to honor and protect the deceased loved one. A little (or a lot of) embellishment of the deceased’s history is not uncommon. This is the main reason I suspect the 22 suicides per day meme is highly incorrect. The 2012 study, which started this meme, clearly states that the statistic may be skewed due to families reporting military service that did not happen. None of the State mortality records have a method to assure a deceased’s veteran status. Those States (23) that ask the question rely on the deceased’s family to truthfully check the veteran box. I suspect the same problem occurred with James Ring in that the family inflated his service record in the obit. Either that or he’s been BSing them for years. Heck, I’ve caught family members adding embellishment to the few stories I’ve told them about combat and I’m not dead yet. It is human nature to make ourselves and our loved ones seem more than we/they are.
My uncle retired as a Major from the Air Force a few years back. My late grandfather frequently “promoted” him to colonel … and once even to general … when talking to all the other old fools at the local beer joint.
If only more of our fellow citizens served, they’d know the honor of the titles of; Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Coastguardsman, Marine.
Its hard to tell but that obit is awfully specific. As for family, I am an only son who has parents still living that consider the military and all who serve as lower class and a haven for delinquents;they have zero clue what I did or what rank I ever attained.
We are totally estranged but at one point my ex-wife got frustrated with them and told them I was a CWO2 and that they should be proud of me…a few years later when my father retired it was in the paper write-up that he had a son serving in the Marine Corps as an E2!!
Thanks for your service Guard Bum.
I’m with Jonn on this one in withholding any accusations of Stolen Valor in this case.
After reviewing the records posted above, MSgt Ring had a solid career in various active and reserve Marine Air Wing units as an aviation maintenance admin clerk from 1956-1979, and he did serve in Vietnam. His period of service was a relatively long time ago, and today his family may genuinely not understand what he did during his time in the Marine Corps, and it’s possible that he never discussed his service with them in any detail.
I recommend that we let this slide, and as Jonn says above, ‘chalk this up to family confusion’.
I second the motion and move the question.
Aye!
I will say this. I have worked in the newspapers for 20 plus years and when I have gone the obit shift, I have had to call as people get service branches mixed up, ranks and medals. A Bronze Star is a battle star to some. Others think the Army and the Marines are the same (much to my amusement) and still others think their loved one got a Medal of Honor when they really got a letter saying they were honorably discharged.
I have no clue what happened here but I will say it does happen.
Andy Kravetz, reporter
Peoria (Ill.) Journal Star
Thanks for the insight, Andy.
Thanks Andy. That reinforces Jonn’s decision to let this one slide. Dollars to donuts that’s what happened in this case.
My older brother has a commendation that says he personally killed 18 gooks one night in Viet Nam. He says there weren’t that many killed the whole night, and he’s not sure he personally killed any of them. But the paperwork is there, all official and everything. His son brought the citation to school one day, and my brother was something of a folk hero amongst a bunch of 6th graders for a while.
Any bets one of the kids/grandkids heard Grampa talking about being in Korea when he was in and that translated to Korean Conflict. The wording didn’t say Korean War.
I can see some of those units being TAD to the Peninsula
I never really quite grasped the meaning of the statement “highly decorated” when it was used in a resume or obituary. In my warped minds eye, I always had this visual of a veteran in uniform with Christmas lights, tinsel and ornaments hanging on them.
To me, a veteran who was awarded either/or the MOH, DSC, Silver star, Bronze Star w/ “V” device or other valor awards seems like someone who would fit that description better, not necessarily a vet who has a lot of Gedunk medals. Nothing wrong with Gedunk medals, but “highly decorated” seems to me “quality over quantity”. JMO
I think you need to remember that most people are like me, not veterans. We don’t get what the medals mean and when we see a slew of ribbons and medals and awards, it seems like a big deal. And it is.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not besmirching anyone’s service or medals. But I didn’t learn about the medals until I started to cover the military 20 years ago. And I didn’t get it more until the war started and I started to hang out more with vets or to go Web sites like this.
Andy Kravetz, reporter
Peoria (Ill.) Journal Star
That’s like everybody that’s not a straight white guy according to the SJW media has always served “with honor and distinction”
I wanna set something on fire and shoot it every time I hear it, because it’s always about some ass cheese MF’er, (or a generalized sub-community of the military, lately for example, transgenders) that by all standards of service clearly falls short of achieving honor and distinction.
I live in the KC area, and I noticed the original obit in the KC Star and thought it unlikely. Earlier this week, there was another entry for Sgt. Ring from the family, apologizing for not understanding about his real decorations. I thought it showed a lot of class; I’ve never seen anything like that in the Star, and bravo to the survivors who were rightly proud of Sgt. Ring’s service and mortified by their mistake.
It’s a tough time for families and it’s been my experience that if the obituary was not done up in advance by the deceased (some people do their own obituaries) then the proposed obit passes through the family and goes through several versions and editions.
PS to my last: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/kansascity/obituary.aspx?n=james-ring&pid=186432050&fhid=4641
Rest In Peace MSGT RING. I agree, overproud/under service record shared with family led to this erroneous (C)MOH in his obit. I SALUTE his service and THANK HIM, may his family just embrace his memory and know our DEEP GRATITUDE.
I would like to think it was more of a Family Mistake.
He had a long career, went where he was told, deployed a lot and did his job.
He got a Combat Action Ribbon as a member of an Air Wing Unit.
While the ground pounders often poke fun at Wingers they were the ones that provided a lot of their own security and manned bunkers while they weren’t wrenching on aircraft. The VC that rocketed the Air Base at Da Nang didn’t check what MOSs that were there.
RIP Marine.
I remember when I was defending the world from the tentacles of communist aggression and the yellow peril. Problem is I can’t get anybody to brag about it for me.