Air Medal

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Air Medal

Postby Ernie Milito » Mon Sep 10, 2018 7:43 pm

I never got my Air Medal. How do you go about applying for this?
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Re: Air Medal

Postby mick hawkins » Tue Sep 11, 2018 11:44 am

Ernie
I'm not the best to answer this but maybe someone will see this and have a better answer. If it is on your DD-214 there is no problem just file for a lost medal or go buy one. If it is not on your DD-214 you need to fill out a DD-149 if you think you was recommended for it and didn't get it.
Not sure how you do it if you are just applying for the award yourself. I think the DD-214 for that also . You can get the form at a VA facility or online . Sorry that is about all I have . Hope to see you in May at the reunion.


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Re: Air Medal

Postby bongson » Tue Sep 11, 2018 2:25 pm

Ernie,
If you have your orders for the Air Medal, you can send a copy requesting it to St. Louis.
If you don't have a copy of your orders, then try to find someone who served at the same time as you and see if your name is on their orders. They don't have to have been in your Company. They were issued in batches. Mine has about 50 names from every Company in 1/50th, and every battalion in the 173rd.
Good luck
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Re: Air Medal

Postby Jim Sheppard » Sun Sep 16, 2018 4:16 pm

"Shooting from the hip"...are you "assuming" you were awarded an Air Medal? Or, as others have asked, is it on your DD214...or, more important, do you have a citation or copy of the orders?

Original "D" Company men fell into a "Gray" area...since the the company was formed in October when we did less Airmobile operations and were mostly "mounted" using our APCs (I believe one needed 25 Combat Assaults to qualify). Adding to the lack of awards was the fact that it took a while before all the proper reporting was handled via a headquarters portion of "D" Company (Qualified Company Clerk would have been in place at An Khe with a working information flow via LZ Uplift...and I believe there was about a month "lag" before this happened).

Long story short, some "D" Company men might have been "shortchanged" on their Combat Assault totals when they transferred to "D" Company...but I cannot say for certain. If this is the case, and you did not qualify as a result, the chances are near zero that you can get the award.

If anyone has their "D" Company Air Medal orders for that group of men from the beginning 6 months or so, Contact me. I have orders from both the 1st Cavalry and the 173rd Airborne, but do not recall seeing group orders for men from "D" Company. I might have them, but I have not indexed what I have as it is over 500 copies of General Orders.
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Re: Air Medal

Postby Ernie Milito » Mon Nov 19, 2018 9:59 pm

Thanks Jim I can only tell you that my 1 flight was the day after Thanksgiving in 1968 out of LZ Pony and more the 25 flights.
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Re: Air Medal

Postby Russ Roth » Sat Nov 24, 2018 1:32 am

What Jim posted squares pretty well with some of what I recall about this. I do have an air medal on my DD214. I remember being on standown and a sergeant came through our hooch and said there has been no one keeping track of our air assaults so everyone was going to get one. That likely was during my time with Delta which would fit with Jim's post. Not sure I have the orders though. HTH

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