THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 20, 1995 TAG: 9504200476
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
The Army has revoked heroism awards given to three soldiers involved in a Persian Gulf War ``friendly fire'' incident. Congressional investigators charged that the citations were based on misleading statements of commanding officers.
Army Secretary Togo West announced the revocation Wednesday and said a panel would look into the General Accounting Office's findings to determine ``what further action may be required by the Army.''
On Feb. 27, 1991, Cpl. Douglas Lance Fielder of Nashville was killed when his unit was mistaken for Iraqis by members of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.
Fielder's was one of 35 ``friendly fire'' deaths tallied among the 148 battle deaths of the war. He was posthumously promoted to sergeant.
``The awards were based on misleading statements and misrepresentations,'' the GAO report said. ``These statements seriously masked the actual events of the fratricide.''
In particular, the report cited statements by Col. Douglas Starr, commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, and Lt. Col. John Daly Jr., the 3rd Squadron commander.
The two men, along with Capt. Bodo Friesen, were later reprimanded by the Army for negligence in allowing their troops to improperly cross into a battlefield sector controlled by another unit.
But the reprimands of Starr and Daly were not placed in their permanent records, and Friesen's reprimand was withdrawn.
Fielder's parents were first informed by the Army that he had been killed by Iraqis, when in fact no enemy forces were in the area at the time. Later they were told by Fielder's military friends that he was killed by ``friendly fire,'' and the parents pressed Congress for an investigation.
Three soldiers under the command of Starr, Daly and Friesen received Bronze Stars with ``V'' devices. A majority of soldiers in the Gulf War received Bronze Stars for participating in combat, but the additional ``V'' award for valor is to be given only in certain cases of dealing with hostile fire from enemy forces.
The Army decision was announced as Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., released a report by the GAO, Congress' investigative branch, that was highly critical of the Army's handling of the matter.
Thompson, at a news conference in Nashville, Tenn., said the report raised a question of whether the awards represented a cover-up by the Army.
``You can't look at that without asking yourself a question of whether the whole thing was used to reinvent the facts of that night to bail everybody out,'' Thompson said. by CNB