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Post by tubman13 on Dec 18, 2014 16:56:17 GMT -6
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Post by quincannon on Dec 18, 2014 18:18:54 GMT -6
I suspect what will come of this is the SS being upgraded to a DSC. I don't believe it will be an MOH. Just a feeling based upon the reported circumstances and not a reflection of the valor demonstrated.
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Post by Yan Taylor on Dec 19, 2014 7:51:13 GMT -6
Chuck/Tom, there was a show on TV the other day and it was about marine combat camera men, now this guy was filming the battle of Tarawa (I think or was it Saipan) and he got detached from the main body, then he and the group of marines he was with got hit by a Japanese patrol of platoon strength, the movie man threw down his movie camera and armed himself with a M1 Carbine, the next day when they got relieved, the camera man had personally killed nine Japanese in the battle, and never got a medal, the reason why was because he was not classed as an Infantryman, I am not sure if they gave him something later, but if the show is every repeated (which is very likely since it was on PBS, I will write down the guy’s name and the island in which he did the deed.
Ian.
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Post by quincannon on Dec 19, 2014 8:43:01 GMT -6
First off every Marine is considered a basic rifleman, before they are considered or trained to be anything else. A combat cameraman is no exception. I would suspect this man was already armed with something, and I think given the time it was most probably a carbine.
Second, killing nine men, or twenty nine or nine hundred is not in and of itself does not justify the award of a medal. Medals are awarded for valor, so it is the manner in which the killing was done, not the killing itself.
I suspect whomever put this PBS show together did not do their homework. You often hear things like this in latter day documentaries.
If you are looking for injustice, take heed. In my view, and that of millions of others the most prestigious award a soldier can get is the award of the Combat Infantry Badge. It says to all that see it that the wearer has been there, they have fought the fight, they have endured, they are men among men. The artillery forward observer spends all his time with an Infantry rifle company. He shares the same hardships, the same dangers, the same harrowing experiences, yet he is not eligible for the CIB. That was partially rectified fairly recently with the new Combat Action Badge, but still it does not have the prestige among other soldiers as the CIB and Combat Medics Badge.
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