Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 29, 1990 TAG: 9005290047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: STAUNTON LENGTH: Medium
The former Army sergeant's spirits soared when he opened the package and found something he had been trying to obtain for years - his certificate for a Purple Heart. The medal, wrapped in plain brown paper, followed two weeks later.
"I jumped as high as the ceiling," said Seaman, 43. "I couldn't believe it."
Seaman was wounded Feb. 1, 1967 in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, better known to those who fought there as "Happy Valley." Seaman's infantry unit was ambushed by the North Vietnamese army, and his leg was struck by shrapnel from a grenade blast as he crawled out of his fox hole in search of more ammunition.
"I didn't even know I was hit," Seaman said. "When I crawled up, the medic saw blood on me. He patched me up right there. I crawled back to the hole and we held them off all night long."
After a night of fighting, Seaman was given a tetanus shot but medics said removal of the shrapnel would only cause more damage.
"I can tell you when it's going to rain because it aches to this day," Seaman said.
In November 1967, five months after returning from Vietnam, Seaman was officially decorated at Fort Knox, Ky. Curiously absent was his Purple Heart, a medal established Aug. 7, 1782, by Gen. George Washington at Newburgh, N.Y., as recognition of wounds received in battle.
Among the medals Seaman did receive were the Air Medal for combat air assaults over enemy territory, Army Commendation, a Vietnamese Gallantry Cross, National Defense, Vietnamese Campaign Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, a Valorous Unit Citation, and a Combat Infantry Badge, which recognizes the fact that he was in the infantry under enemy fire.
"The paperwork got messed up," and the Purple Heart was missing, Seaman said. He asked about his Purple Heart and was told the orders for it had not been received.
In 1972, he wrote his first letter to the Department of the Army to inquire about the medal but received no response.
In 1985, he contacted Rep. James Olin, D-6th, who would prove instrumental in Seaman's quest, and the Disabled American Veterans, which tried to help.
"They kept saying they couldn't find any orders. All this stuff never followed me home I guess," Seaman said.
Olin told Seaman to find a witness who saw him get wounded. Seaman wrote a letter to his unit's alumni organization and asked anyone who remembered the events of that day to write to him.
He also placed an advertisement in the military magazine Saber seeking witnesses.
A month later letters came from two of Seaman's former sergeants, one in Texas and another in North Carolina. They also sent two statements saying they witnessed Seaman being wounded.
"It took me five years to boil it down to that," said Seaman.
The letters were sent to Olin, who forwarded them to the Department of the Army. On Dec. 19, 1989, Seaman finally received the Purple Heart that was past due.
"They finally gave me what I had earned," he said. "I had to fight for it. I don't think I should have had to fight so hard."
by CNB