Coast Guard Purple Heart awarded for Vietnam

[Dave]

All:

I'd like to share a group I just picked up. This might be considered one of the rarest Purple Hearts out there: 60 members of the Coast Guard were wounded in Vietnam, and only 7 were killed - thus making Purple Hearts to the Coast Guard for Vietnam quite possibly the most uncommon Purple Heart awards for any major war.

 

Interestingly, this Purple Heart was awarded for a friendly fire incident, involving the USCGC Point Welcome. From the Coast Guard website:

 

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The Point Welcome was built at the Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland and was commissioned on 14 February 1962. She was first stationed at Everett, Washington, from 1962 to 1965. Here she conducted law enforcement and search and rescue patrols. She was then allocated to join many of her sister cutters in the waters off Vietnam in support of the U.S. Navy's Operation Market Time. She was converted for service with the addition of a .50 caliber machine gun with a "piggyback" 82mm mortar as well as additional armament, placed on the open deck of a freighter, and carried to the Philippines, where she was offloaded.

Once joined by her crew, she was assigned to CG Squadron One, Division 12, Vietnam, from July 1965 and served until April 1970. She was attacked in the pre-dawn hours of 11 August 1966 by U.S. Air Force aircraft while on patrol in the waters near the mouth of the Cua Viet River, about three-quarters of a mile south of the Demilitarized Zone (the 17th Parallel). Her commanding officer, LTJG David Brostrom, along with one crewmen, EN2 Jerry Phillips, were killed in this "friendly fire" incident. The Point Welcome's executive officer, LTJG Ross Bell, two other crewmen, GM2 Mark D. McKenney and FA Houston J. Davidson, a Vietnamese liaison officer, LTJG Do Viet Vien, and a freelance journalist, Mr. Timothy J. Page, were wounded.

BMC Richard Patterson saved the cutter and the surviving crew at great risk to himself. He was awarded a Bronze Star with the combat "V" device for his actions that were described in his award citation:

"The first attack caused a blazing gasoline fire on the fantail of the cutter that threatened to engulf the entire after section of the vessel. Chief Patterson, displaying the finest qualities of bravery and leadership, took charge of the situation and using a fire hose, forced the flaming liquid over the side, thus extinguishing the fire. Even as he was accomplishing this task, he saw the second aircraft attack rip through the pilot house killing the cutter's commanding officer and seriously wounding the executive officer and the helmsman. Unhesitatingly, and with complete disregard for his personal safety, Chief Patterson climbed to the bridge and took command. He ordered the crew to carry the wounded to the comparative safety of the below decks area. Alone on the bridge, he then maneuvered the cutter at high speed to avoid subsequent attacks. When it became apparent that he could not successfully evade the attacking aircraft, he ran the cutter close ashore, and directed the crew to abandon ship. Under his composed leadership, the wounded were wrapped in life jackets and paired with the able bodied before going over the side. Chief Patterson kept his crew calm and organized while they were in the water and until they were picked up by rescue craft."

The Point Caution came to the assistance of Point Welcome and along with other units, rescued those in the water. Soon thereafter Patterson and those of his crew that were not seriously wounded returned to their cutter. They then sailed Point Welcome back to Danang under her own power. There she was repaired and returned to service.

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There are a couple of very interesting points about the action. First, it was a friendly fire incident, as they were fired on by US Air Force aircraft. I do not know the Coast Guard regulations on Purple Hearts at the time, but to award them for friendly fire probably took some considerable effort on the part of the Coast Guard.

Second, in the official investigation, only four members of the crew were noted as being wounded. However, as per the Coast Guard official records, every member of the crew was WIA, to include BM1 Russell, who earned this Purple Heart.

Finally, this was the very first attack on the Coast Guard during the Vietnam War and these men were the first casualties of the Coast Guard since the end of the Second World War.

I plan on researching this group as much as possible as it's as rare and unusual as can be found. Not much is known about BM1 (later BMCS) Russell, and ancestry.com hasn't been of too much help as I don't know his actual date of birth (I believe he was born in 1930 and died in 1993, but I could be wrong). I will keep researching down that way as well, and welcome any assistance for his biographical materials that others might have.

Thanks for looking, and enjoy this superbly rare group!

Dave

 

[Dave]

And the reverse...

[Dave]

Thankfully, his marksmanship medal was engraved. Otherwise, this group would have been a "nice group, but story unfortunately lost to history..." With his single engraved medal, we now know his history and can honor his service for our nation.

[Dave]

The group also came with his belt buckle. I believe this was made in the Philippines.

[Dave]

Here are the names of the wounded and killed from the ship. This is courtesy of the Coast Guard website.

[Dave]

Finally, a screen shot of his summary of the action as given under oath during the investigation. I believe he was awarded the Navy Commendation with V for these actions.

 

A salute to Boatswain Russell!

[Dave]

One other thing that's interesting is that his bar is missing his Vietnam Service and RVN Campaign medals. He earned the last medal in 1972, so it could be assumed he put this bar together post-1972...but it's missing those two medals. It's obvious he wanted to stay with a single medal bar...but why leave off those? Unfortunately, we'll probably never know the answer to that question.

[tarbridge]

Thanks for posting...we learn something everyday on the forum.

[dhodak]

Thanks for sharing this great group and for teaching me something I had not known about what a sad story.

[stealthytyler]

Thank you for sharing. This sort of attack is something that you don't generally associate with Vietnam. Very eye opening.

[KASTAUFFER]

Thanks for posting this extremely rare group Dave!

 

Kurt

[BEAST]

Dave, Thanks for posting. It is unfortunate that the wartime service of the Coast Guard is not better known.

[LuftStalg1]

Another great find Dave, thanks for sharing!

[ParanormalTrooper]

Incredible grouping, thanks for posting!

[katieony]

Wow, a rare group of medals...thanks for posting!

 

Mike

[Brian Dentino]

Uber rare PH grouping Dave. Thanks for sharing the medals and Mr. Russell's story here for us. Quite a harrowing account to read of the attack.....

[firefighter]

Amazing grouping to a brave Sailor.

[KASTAUFFER]

One other thing that's interesting is that his bar is missing his Vietnam Service and RVN Campaign medals. He earned the last medal in 1972, so it could be assumed he put this bar together post-1972...but it's missing those two medals. It's obvious he wanted to stay with a single medal bar...but why leave off those? Unfortunately, we'll probably never know the answer to that question.

 

Hi Dave

 

He may have picked the 5 medals he wanted to wear and left them off on purpose too. I would have thought he would have picked his VN campaign over the National Defense medal, but I have seen stranger things.

 

Kurt

[kanemono]

Great group Dave with excellent research. Good luck finding more information.

Dick

[Leatherwringer]

Incredible....and thanks so much for the detailed story. I am also in the group of "Learning something new every day on the forum"!!

I am a huge US Coast Guard fan with my father being a Retired Coastie. The rarity of the USCG Purple Heart issuance during the Vietnam era is astounding to me.

[3mxd]

Any ideas about why the PH is placed to the right of the Navy Commendation?

[Dave]

Any ideas about why the PH is placed to the right of the Navy Commendation?

 

Interesting! I never noticed that. Maybe it was mounted after 1985? That would make sense if he had these mounted for wear at the end of his career or in retirement... Hopefully, my FOIA for his record will get something usable back to answer those questions!

[PaulR]

Hi Dave- Thank you for sharing this awesome medal bar. There were only a few thousand Coast Guard members who went over to Vietnam and only a small percentage of those received Purple Hearts (Thank God). Seeing this made my year. Thank you.

 

Here is my only CG VN bar. Sadly though, unnamed.

 

I am looking at the reverse of your bar. It looks like a well-executed home job. If I had that ability, I would never have to pay 200 dollars to Medals of America for mine. What sort of glue do you think was used? Wood based (Elmers), hot glue gun, or some sort of rubber based glue? The reason I ask it that we may be able to use this to determine a time frame when he may have had it made.

[PaulR]

First-hand account and following investigation, with a few mentions of BM1 Russell.

 

http://www.oocities.org/capitolhill/3882/PointWelcome/PointWelcome2.html

[TheMariner]

That is really the bar of a lifetime for coast guard collectors, things like that just dont come up very often. I have found in the past with coast guard groupings from the period those marksman's medal are sometimes the only things that can properly ID the grouping most of the GCMs and other medals were not named! Thanks for sharing your excellent finds as always! I must say i am a little jealous of this one!