In the comments on my Father's Day post, the Auld Soldier opined thusly:
No fringe (or fraying ) on the national flag. The Battalion colors were fringed and that is what shows below and to the right of the US flag. For Old Fat Sailor - yes, my A battery was split between two miserable 5th SF group camps on the Cambodian border for over six months.
Not a hero,I was a professional soldier by choice, but I had a bunch of draftees I would put in that category.
Dad
This is vintage Dad. Concerned that someone would think he'd allow his Colors to get frayed, a shout-out to a fellow-traveler of the times, and a deflection of honor to others, uncomfortable of a simple reality.
In a good way - would that more persons of the political class would suffer such humility. As the words the Bard put in Duncan's mouth in Macbeth -
So well thy words become thee as thy
wounds;
They smack of honour both.
Or an echo of Captain Guy Henry, United States Army, shot through the face at the Battle of the Rosebud 17 June, 1876 -
It is nothing. For this, are we soldiers.Spoken like a Regular.
For those who don't know - the medal represents the first award, A bronze Oak Leaf Cluster represents a subsequent award. You do the math for Colonel Tim Donovan's Purple Heart collection.
Gathered the hard way, not a pawn shop or eBay.
No stolen valor here.
That's not one or two leaves - that's a tree. And none of them a scratch requiring no treatment, or a slice on the hand from a c-rat can garnered jumping into a bunker in response to indirect on the other side of the firebase. Those are up close and personal - especially the bullets. I remember a time at Fort Leavenworth, back in '64, when the Auld Soldier had to take a short break from a softball game because Chinese grenade fragments were working their way out of his arm.
Three in one war, four in the next. Neither of them popular wars where you came home to acclaim, either. One forgotten, un-noticed at home, almost. The other a source of division and rancor. Yet, no one went home early. No, one simply did their Duty to the best of their ability, as the oath demands.
So it's *only* seven.
No way. I'm staying the hell away from that guy. He's a bullet/frag magnet!
I should ask John whether after all the Auld Soldier been through, the Army found a job for him teaching young LT's how to duck.
Sorry to confuse. I must have been in weird mood. Its just 75 years ago most folks would know the difference between flag and a color, or perhaps I so fantasize, and now I find not many do. If we were a militaristic society, well, then everyone would know this difference caused by a fringe of gold.
My question was one of honors. Since a flag is a lesser symbol than a color, I wondered why the American Flag instead of the National Color? Seems to me ceremonies like that require both colors and the colors travel with units into harm's way. So what happened that the National Color was not present? Does this help any?
That's quite a tree. Auld Soldier, sir - Thank you. I'm glad you made it home to your family.
God Bless em all and your dad in particular. Not all the Old Breed pass on their strength and integrity as yours did.
Indeed, national colors are strictly a unit phenomenon. Look at the headquarters of any post. They fly the national flag. The only time you see colors are mounted on a staff in a color guard.
So, I take it that the other two were through-and-through, or are they still in him? Whatever, those jagged chunks look like they were quite ouchy. Oh, and one of those looks like a pistol bullet. I'd like to hear the story belonging to that one.
Lotsa folks have been instaneously killed dead by one hit from smaller objects than any of those. I am glad that's not the case here, otherwise I wouldn't get to read this site which would not exist, nor its owner. Or his Dad.