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.]]>