Denial of Purple Heart medals raises questions about casualty count

sunherald.com ^ | Fri, Dec. 05, 2003 | PATRICK PETERSON

[milli]

Posted on Fri, Dec. 05, 2003 Denial of Purple Heart medals raises questions about casualty count BY PATRICK PETERSON Knight Ridder Newspapers

GULFPORT, Miss. - (KRT) - An influential Mississippi congressman has raised the possibility that the Pentagon has undercounted combat casualties in Iraq after he learned that five members of the Mississippi National Guard who were injured Sept. 12 by a booby trap in Iraq were denied Purple Heart medals.

The guardsmen were wounded by an artillery shell that detonated as their convoy passed the tree in which it was hidden, but their injuries were classified as "noncombat," according to Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss. Taylor, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, learned of the classification when he visited the most seriously injured of the guardsmen, Spc. Carl Sampson, 35, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

"How could no one have caught this?" Taylor said.

On Nov. 20, shortly after visiting Sampson, Taylor brought the matter to the attention of Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Purple Hearts quickly were awarded.

But Taylor said the incident raised concerns that Iraq combat casualties had been understated. He said Myers told him he'd been made aware of similar oversights.

"I'm probably going to send a memo out to the rest of the members of Congress and ask if anyone has had a similar incident," Taylor said Friday. "I just don't want to see anyone else who's been injured get cheated about their Purple Heart."

Defense Department statistics show that as of Thursday, some 2,150 service members had been wounded in action in Iraq, while 354 were injured in nonhostile incidents. Of 441 service members who've died in Iraq, 304 are listed as killed in hostile action; 137 deaths resulted from nonhostile action.

A Pentagon spokesman said the decision to award the Purple Heart was made at a unit level and that he couldn't explain how the misclassification occurred.

Members of the Mississippi National Guard were mystified. "Sampson should have already been awarded a Purple Heart," said Lt. Col. Tim Powell, a spokesman for the Guard. "An improvised explosive device built and placed with the intent to harm American soldiers is hostile."

Sampson, who sustained shrapnel wounds to his face and arms, is now hospitalized in Tampa, Fla.

[glock rocks]

so you just signed up to pass around some bad news?

wonderful. welcome to Free Republic.

[niteowl77]

I am sorry to be so negative, but why can't this be looked into without turning it into a media circus? There is nothing like an upcoming election to make a Democrat solicitous of "his" soldiers.

[MJY1288]

What a crock of sh*t, The media has paid no attention to our injured, only our dead. The reason is clear, they would like to paint this effort in Iraq as some kind of quagmire or another Vietnam. Each and every soldier who has earned the Purple Heart will revieve it, The liberals in the Press should stick to something they know something about, like the proper use of a white flag and leave our injured soldiers alone

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

No one ever screwed up military paperwork before the Bush administration came in .............. R O F L M A O !!

[MegaSilver]

I don't recall this much press scrutiny when Clinton carried out his Wuss Wars last decade.

Or am I forgetting something?

[zarf]

Bingo. I find all this "concern" about the military from the left a laugh riot!

Hell, they'll be bitching about how out of control the CIA is within a couple of years.

it's all so predictable.

[milli]

I'm not sure what that is a picture of, but I did not sign up to pass around "bad news". Last time I checked the purple heart was awarded to those injured in combat. Our soldiers deserve to be recognized for their sacrificies - not denied honors to appease the general public's desire for an "easy war". War is hell - as these 5 from Mississippi know all too well - lets show our respect for their valor.

[BushMeister]

Gene Taylor is a Blue Dog and often votes with Republicans in the House. I agree that he could have done this quietly.

[milli]

What's a "blue dog"?

This topic can be spinned & twisted into a political ploy but the bottom line is our soldiers are the ones left hung out to dry, flapping in the breeze.

This is about soldiers with shrapnel in their face - limbs missing- etc. The unfortunate fact is without publicity this situation may not resolved. And why in the heck should any soldier have to beg for a purple heart???

[monkeywrench]

Who was "denying" them the purple hearts? The article doesn't make it clear.

[MJY1288]

I have been to Walter Redd Hospital and visited some of the injured troops there, and I can guarantee you that there is no story there for the left wing media, because each and every injured soldier I visited were upbeat and positive and said how everyday they were in Iraq, at least one everyday Iraqi citizen would stop and thank our troops for liberating them. These are stories we will never hear from these left wing America hating liberals in the Press.

Their stories of bravery and heroism will be told, but not until after the 04 elections. To tell them now doesn't fit their agenda

[EricT.]

Our soldiers deserve to be recognized for their sacrificies - not denied honors to appease the general public's desire for an "easy war".

You are jumping to some really far-out conclusions there, Mr. Vanilli. A lot of people have been screwed out of awards in the military (including myself), purely from poor record keeping and/or lazy clerks. Don't go looking for conspiracies just because 5 guardsman had a problem with some paperwork.

[niteowl77]

War is hell - as these 5 from Mississippi know all too well - lets show our respect for their valor.

Part of that respect is not turning a situation such as this into crass political grandstanding.

One 'rat howls about not issuing medals, another 'rat brags that he threw his away... must be a situational ethics thing.

[milli]

"Who was "denying" them the purple hearts? The article doesn't make it clear."

good point. I have no idea how the system works. The article seems to imply it was a decision made at the unit level... whatever that means.

[MJY1288]

Hey Newbie...... Have you been to see any of our injured soldiers?

Or are you basing your opinion that our soldiers are "left out to dry, falpping in the breeze" from left wing publications that have never given a RATS ASS about our soldiers to begin with?

[Kirkwood]

"How could no one have caught this?" Taylor said.

Exactly how long has this person been in government? Yeah right, a right-wing conspiracy is a far more likely explanation than a bureaucratic foul-up. Sure, and I'll be happy to sell you the Brooklyn bridge.

[EricT.]

On Nov. 20, shortly after visiting Sampson, Taylor brought the matter to the attention of Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Purple Hearts quickly were awarded.

BTW, a lot of screw-ups in the military get resolved by contacting a congress critter. It is one of the few useful things they do.

[milli]

"BTW, a lot of screw-ups in the military get resolved by contacting a congress critter. It is one of the few useful things they do."
LOL

[monkeywrench]

The left "implies" things when they want to smear. I seriously doubt anyone besides one of the lefties in govt. would do anything like "deny" a serviceman an award that is rightfully his. This administration still has alot of house cleaning to do.