Thanks to readers we now know the following:
WASHINGTON — A retired Army Green Beret credited with saving multiple lives during a covert four-day mission into Laos to target North Vietnamese soldiers operating there will receive the Medal of Honor next month, 47 years after his heroic actions, the White House announced Wednesday.
President Donald Trump will present the military’s highest honor to retired Army Capt. Gary Michael Rose on Oct. 23 at the White House, an upgrade of the Distinguished Service Cross Rose received in 1971. Rose was awarded the nation’s second highest medal for valor just four months after the Special Forces mission in which he survived bullet and rocket wounds and a helicopter crash to provide life-saving aid to more than 100 comrades, according to the award citation. Stars and Stripes
I was being too cynical when I speculated in my original story that the timing of the awards ceremony was meant as a distraction. It is too bad that in The Golden Age of Trump anyone would have it even cross their mind that a president would use the presentation of this honor for his own unrelated purposes.
ANOTHER FACT CHECK — Trump was aware of Capt. Rose’s being awarded the Medal of Honor in early August.
On Aug. 3, Rose finally got his own call.
Rose picked up the phone that afternoon to a voice that asked him to hold for the president of the United States.
“Margaret tells me I immediately came to attention, my feet at a 40-degree angle, my fist curled to my palm. My thumbs went along the seam of my trousers,” he said. ”And she said the only thing that was missing was a uniform and being in a formation some place.”
Rose has asked that not only his fellow MACV-SOG veterans be included in his ceremony, but that the White House reaches out to the Marines and Air Force personnel who supported the mission, particularly the A-1E Skyraider and AH-1 Cobra pilots who were there.
“To me, this medal is a collective medal, and it honors all those men who fought. A lot of them were injured and killed in that operation,” he said. “It represents the fact that North Vietnamese Army troops were tied up along the Ho Chi Minh Trail because of what we were doing in Laos and Cambodia.”
“I’m confident, without those 50,000 troops down in the south, that the names on that [Vietnam memorial] wall – instead of being 58,000 might be 100,000 or more,” he added. From The Army Times
Does anybody believe it is an accident that Trump is awarding the Medal of Honor to a heroic Vietnam veteran after two weeks of being attacked because of his insensitivity to a Gold Star widow?
We now know the following didn’t happen.
Whose idea was this? Did Trump say “find me something to do to show how much I honor our soldiers?”
Was it General Kelly’s idea? “Mr. President, you need to show the country how much you care about our military heroes.”
Steve Miller: “Mr. President, why not find someone who is a real hero because he didn’t get captured or killed and award him the Medal of Honor?”
Note in the poll below that I wasn’t the only one being this cynical.
Monday, Oct 23, 2017 · 8:50:43 PM +00:00 · HalBrown
I am frequently frustrated in how many readers just don't get it when I try to write a clear exposition of my opinion. Did I have to spell it out? "I mean no disrespect to Capt. Rose who certainly deserved the highest military honor this country can bestow."