When I served in Vietnam, I was accidentally awarded the
Bronze Star medal.Return to my Jim Loy pages
Go to my home page
© Copyright 1998, Jim Loy
When I served in Vietnam, I was accidentally awarded the
Bronze Star medal.
Near the end of my time in the Army, I started to take it easy. One of the lieutenants said that if I didn't get back to work, he would take away all my medals. I laughed and replied, "I don't have any medals." He checked, and found out that I was right, no medals. So he put me in for an Army Commendation Medal, for taking it easy apparently. They had a medal ceremony on the parade grounds, and General Hixon pinned a medal on me and said, as he shook my hand, "It's about time you got this." I said, "Yes sir." And I was shocked to see a Bronze Star on my chest. There had been a mixup in the paperwork, I actually received orders for a Bronze Star. The certificate was signed by the Secretary of the Army, or someone like that. Somewhere, I've got a photograph of the general pinning the medal on me.
There were two ways to earn a Bronze Star, heroism in battle, and honest hard work over a long period of time in Vietnam. It's almost an insult to the heroes, but maybe not. Anyway, I wanted to keep my Bronze Star. But, I had to give it back. I got my Army Commendation Medal, and later one with an Oak Leaf Cluster, as well as a Good Conduct Medal, and the Vietnam Service medal. All this was mostly automatic.
After I got out of the Army, I tried to get my Bronze Star. But there is no record that the orders ever existed. That's probably good. But, it was a pretty medal.