Should I return, dump or keep service medals?

Question

I am a Viet Nam combat veteran. I did earn my Combat Infantryman's Badge, Viet Nam Campaign Medal, Expert Rifleman's Badge, Unit Insignas and a Purple Heart for being shot through my right lung. So, those are keepers I did earn. But I have a number of others, that I will say were not really earned and even in service never wore. Fact with the other medals is there are others they should have been awarded to, many dead. No one witnessed their deeds though and I was undeservedly in the limelight. So do I send them back with a letter or just throw them away? It's been 40 years. My father who was at Omaha and WWII threw away his medals shortly after discharge. All of them. He had the same reasons but also disgust and contempt for the government needlessly wasting lives. He was in a Sherman tank division, far inferior to German tanks. And knew better ones could have been made. At Ohama, none made it onto the beach.

Answer 1

Do what your conscience tells you, but, you received them so someone thinks you earned them.
Hoo-ah! Thanks for your service.

Answer 2

You keep your Medals you Deserve them, Whatever you think of your Government or the Politics of the Viet Nam War they are yours to show the Children and Grandchildren, and they will say he was a very Brave Man. My own Father was in the First World War , His Regiment was The Royal Irish Rifles and he was in France and then in Egypt and then in Mesopetania which is now Iraq, nothing changes the British Army is still in Iraq. When he left the British Army in 1922 he joined the Irish Army The Irish Free State, Saorstad Eireann as it was known then and was in the Auxilary Police Service in the Second War in Neutral Ireland. Times were hard then and he sold his Medals something he always regretted doing and spent years looking for the Originals in Various Numistatists and Antique Shops . He had to make do with Medals he bought that was not his and would go to the Armistice Celebrations in St Patricks Cathedral Dublin with them every Year and to the British Legion Reunion Meetings. He Died in 1972 and I still have these Medals and some Photoes and some Irish Army Identity Service Papers in a Wallet belonging to him. So hold on to your Medals. Good Luck.

Answer 3

If you can track down the families of those individuals that you feel should have received the medals, by all means, forward the medals to the families with a note. Even though it's been 40 years, a note could mean a whole lot to someone who possibly never knew the brave men & women that never made it back from Viet Nam.

Your father's reasoning was good for him. It sounds as though you agree with him to a point.

I salute you for your honesty as well as serving our country.

Answer 4

Do you have children or grandchildren? If so, write a letter about how you feel about the medals and your service. Put the letter with the medals and leave it for your descendents. You'll give them a view of how you felt about that part of your life. It will mean an ENOROUS amount to them.

I'm a genealogist (amature) and have been working on my family history for years. Part of my family were Jamestown settlers who got to the US in 1607. The men in my family fought in every war the US has ever had. Recently, my grandsons served in Iraq and Afghanistan. I wish my gggrandfather who served in the Confederate army had left some indication of how he felt about his service. I have a picture of him as an old man, but no way of knowing how he felt about it. Another ancestor fought in the Spanish American War... another drummed up, phony war like the current war. How did he feel? Used? Justified? Seriously, there's going to be someone with your DNA who will want to know how you got those medals, what they meant to you and if you felt it was worth it. If you don't have any relatives, leave the medals and a letter to your local historical society. Please leave that history for those who will come later.

To me, one of the saddest things is the idea of a person's name never being spoken again. After all your friends and relatives who knew you have died, who will remember your name? Leave those medals behind and your gggggrandkids will speak your name. :-)

Answer 5

First, WELCOME HOME from a brother Nam vet.

If you don't want to have the medals around, I suggest you loan them for display at your local American Legion, VFW, or Vietnam Veterans of America post.

Should you change your mind , they would be retrievable later.

The newer vets and kids need to see whar earlier vets did.

Answer 6

I have my medals in a box somewhere in a box of miscellaneous stuff. Until your post I actually forgot I have them. I would throw them away but my wife wanted me to keep them. I told her I did what I did because I felt it was right I don't need medals to know what I did and I am not one to boast.

Answer 7

Keep them.
If you throw them away, you'll never get them back.
Even if you don't want them now, you cannot know what the future holds. Changes unforeseen may change your future need for those bits of evidence of things past.
They may serve a purpose none of us can predict.

Answer 8

Thanks for sharing the story about your father. I learned something. If you don't want the medals do as your father did.

Answer 9

keep them; continue to work to make them what they represent