The E-Sylum:  Volume 8, Number 12, March 21, 2005, Article 30

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS

On March 13, 2005, the St. Petersburg Times published
an article about a local Vietnam veteran who is being given
a medal he earned 34 years ago, but never received due to
an Army snafu. The award was the Distinguished Service
Cross.

"The Distinguished Service Cross, also known as the DSC,
is our Nation's second highest award for valor, second only
to the Medal of Honor. The Distinguished Service Cross
was created during the First World War and was signed into
law by President Woodrow Wilson on January 2, 1918."
Full Story

We've discussed the Medal of Honor before, but not the DSC.
Here is an excerpt from the St. Petersburg Times article,
followed by some additional web references about the medal.

"Although he was a member of the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots
Association, Lawrence didn't go to their reunions or look up
old brothers-in-arms. The recipient of other service medals
from the Army and Coast Guard, Lawrence, now 55, admits
he didn't even bother to display them.

"When I came back, it was not a good time to be saying I
was a Vietnam vet," said Lawrence, who now flies planes
for FedEx. "And now, I don't really offer it up."

But then Almquist, who had been looking up helicopter
pilots who served in Vietnam, got in touch with him in late
2003. They corresponded for several months, and over
that July dinner, Almquist told Lawrence he was going to
do everything in his power to get him that medal.

Lawrence was touched by the effort, but didn't expect
anything to come of it. Getting someone a medal years
after the fact requires mountains of paperwork, but the
men would not be put off.

It didn't take years. And the paperwork they were
prepared to fill out was never filed. Almquist's inquiries
uncovered the fact that Lawrence had been awarded a
different rare medal in 1972: the Distinguished Service
Cross. The cross is the country's second-highest military
award, just below the Medal of Honor.

But the Army had lost it.

Only a researcher at the National Archives discovered
the oversight. Lawrence learned only two weeks ago
that he received the medal. He shares the distinction
with just more than 13,000 other veterans who have
received the Distinguished Service Cross since it was
established in 1917.

To read the full article, see: Full Story

For more information on the medal, see: Full Story
https://www.perscom.army.mil/tagd/tioh/Awards/DSC1.html

Quick Quiz: What American celebrity received the DSC?"

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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