gunbarrel Posted November 27, 2007 Share #1 Posted November 27, 2007 Ran across this bit of trivia purely by accident. The last American World War II veteran on active duty was Captain Earl R. Fox, USCG, who retired in 1999: http://www.uscg.mil/Reserve/magazine/mag19...ec1999/news.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobgee Posted November 27, 2007 Share #2 Posted November 27, 2007 Ran across this bit of trivia purely by accident. The last American World War II veteran on active duty was Captain Earl R. Fox, USCG, who retired in 1999: http://www.uscg.mil/Reserve/magazine/mag19...ec1999/news.htm Interesting story on Capt. Fox. Also very interesting is the event that Capt. Fox was attending, i.e. the award 0f 111 Posthumous Purple Heart medals to the crew of the USCG Tampa lost when torpedoed by a German U-Boat in 1918. Reading the article one would wonder about how this "oversight" occurred. Well there was no "oversight". The Purple Heart medal was awarded only to living ARMY recipients when it was established in 1932 based on Washington's Revolutionary War Medal of Merit. KIAs next-of kin did not qualify for the medal. You had to be living to apply and receive it. Further only ARMY members and Naval personnel ATTACHED to the ARMY (such as Marines & Corpsmen of the 4th Brigade, A.E.F.) were eligible. The Navy did not adopt the Purple Heart until 1942 and its award criteria started on or after Dec. 7, 1941. The article failed to mention that no such medal was availble to USCG personnel. Semper Fi.....Bobgee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teufelhunde.ret Posted November 27, 2007 Share #3 Posted November 27, 2007 Bob, very interesting details... as we all know its likely the "dumbing down" of the award system. I presume the Corps adopted the PH with the Navy at the same time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMPERIAL QUEST Posted November 27, 2007 Share #4 Posted November 27, 2007 If I am reading the article correctly, some of the "next of kin" receiving the Hearts are listed as "relative" not "Son" or "Daughter" in every case. From what I have learned here so far (mainly from Bob) about the requirements of eligibility, it appears that no one in a command position even bothered to reference the regs. By these standards, I guess I could apply for a PH for one of my relatives that was killed by the Confederate forces during the Civil War??? Looks like this is another "politically correct" gesture so everyone can be included...nevermind the regulations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KASTAUFFER Posted November 27, 2007 Share #5 Posted November 27, 2007 If I am reading the article correctly, some of the "next of kin" receiving the Hearts are listed as "relative" not "Son" or "Daughter" in every case. From what I have learned here so far (mainly from Bob) about the requirements of eligibility, it appears that no one in a command position even bothered to reference the regs. By these standards, I guess I could apply for a PH for one of my relatives that was killed by the Confederate forces during the Civil War??? Looks like this is another "politically correct" gesture so everyone can be included...nevermind the regulations. Heck sometimes you dont even have to ask for the medals . I know someone that recently wrote to the NPRC just asking for copies of citations from a personnel file, and they were sent an entire set of medals instead. It wasnt even their relative. Kurt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMPERIAL QUEST Posted November 27, 2007 Share #6 Posted November 27, 2007 Heck sometimes you dont even have to ask for the medals . I know someone that recently wrote to the NPRC just asking for copies of citations from a personnel file, and they were sent an entire set of medals instead...Kurt Hmmmmmm....I am the decendent of a Union soldier that was awarded the Medal of Honor during the Civil War for retreiving wounded from the battlefield under heavy enemy fire. I wonder if I might be so lucky... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted May 11, 2023 Share #7 Posted May 11, 2023 On 11/26/2007 at 9:59 PM, gunbarrel said: Ran across this bit of trivia purely by accident. The last American World War II veteran on active duty was Captain Earl R. Fox, USCG, who retired in 1999: http://www.uscg.mil/Reserve/magazine/mag19...ec1999/news.htm https://coastguard.togetherweserved.com/uscg/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=BattleMemoryExt&ID=751 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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