Vietnam Veteran Receives Medals
This was a great story that I wanted to share with everyone. Our Vietnam Veterans never asked for much – just the love and gratitude of the country that sent them to war. Unfortunately, all they got was disdain and pain. Little by little, our country is making up for the way our Vietnam Veterans were treated and I like to share those stories.
Dennis Strianese isn’t sure exactly where he was in Vietnam the day he was wounded.
He was with the 196th Light Infantry Brigade somewhere west of Da Nang in May 1969 when the brigade got orders to take back an observation post that had been overrun by the North Vietnamese army.
Strianese, of Sykesville, was in the Army from 1968 until 1970, rising to the rank of Specialist Four.
His tour in Vietnam was a constant game of cat-and-mouse with the enemy, Strianese said. Mortar shells fell on their bases at night, and the days were full of snipers and firefights.
His unit began to come under heavy small arms fire as they approached the target, and it was attacked by rockets, Strianese said.
Strianese was hit with shrapnel in his back, head and arms and suffered a collapsed lung and a burst ear drum.
At the hospital where he was recovering from his wounds, he was told the unit had stumbled across four battalions, a ratio of about 1,600 North Vietnamese to 400 Americans.
His actions in the service earned Strianese a number of medals and awards. For some of them he got the actual medals, but for others he got only ribbons and not the medals he’d earned, he said.
Strianese told staff members of Congressman Roscoe Bartlett that he was missing medals while working with Bartlett’s office to clear up some red tape for a disability from his war injuries.
His contact with Bartlett’s office encouraged him to participate in the Veterans History Project, a program run by the Library of Congress to gather the memories and accounts of U.S. war veterans.
While sharing his story, Bartlett’s staff learned he hadn’t gotten all the medals he’d earned.
On Dec. 12, Bartlett presented Strianese with the Purple Heart, Combat Infantry badge, Vietnam Service Medal with three Bronze Stars, National Defense Service Medal, parachute badge and Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with the Palm Unit Citation Badge, the medals he had earned but never received.
The Veterans History Project was established by Congress in 2000 and collects oral histories, photographs, journals and other memorabilia from veterans of wars from World War I to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Strianese said he would encourage veterans to participate in the project and tell their individual stories.
Bartlett said the project is a great way to both honor veterans and provide a valuable resource for future generations.
“This is going to be a rich source for historians looking back on what really happened in those wars,” Bartlett said.
Story by Ryan Marshall at 410-857-7865 or ryan.marshall@carrollcountytimes.com
Lenard Blachly
January 14th, 2009 at 5:58 pmI had the same problem.
B CO. 2/501st INF 101st ABN. Wia April 9, 1970 Ashau Valley