WWII veteran receives recognition he deserves 6 decades later

[teufelhunde.ret]

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7053940...ades-later.html

 

By Jed Boal, Deseret News

 

SALT LAKE CITY — For this year's Veterans Day, one World War II vet in Salt Lake City has something extra this year to commemorate his service in the Philippines. Tom Harrison, who is 93, received a package in the mail last week that contained quite a surprise.

 

Harrison was commissioned through the ROTC at the University of Utah in 1941 and sent off to war in the Pacific. He endured the brutality of the Bataan Death March and three-and-a-half years in a labor camp, but never got all the recognition he deserved — until now.

 

"You can get used to most anything, if you make up your mind to do so," he said of his ordeals. Harrison was among 20,000 American troops on the Bataan Peninsula who ran out of food and ammo and had to surrender in April 1942. "It was a terrible experience," he said. Japanese troops forced the starving and exhausted POWs to walk more than 70 miles to the ships that took them to prison labor camps.

 

"If you got out of line, if you fell, you were likely to either be bayoneted or clubbed to death," he said. All the way, they were brutalized by their captors. "You tried not to attract attention of a guard with a bayonet." He survived the march and more than three years in a prison camp, until they were freed in the summer of 1945. Harrison wrote a book about his experience in 1989.

 

Fast forward more than six decades to last week, when a package of prestigious service medals showed up in the mail on his 65th wedding anniversary. Harrison's wife thought it was his medication. "It was in a package," he said. "No letter, no explanation." Inside were the Army Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star and the Legion of Merit Medal. He also received a Victory Medal and a Presidential Unit Citation.

 

"I never tried to follow it up," Harrison said. "I had a family to raise, a career to follow and a war to forget." The only information inside the package was a packing slip from the integrated logistics service center in Philadelphia. It simply listed the medals that were included in the package. Harrison doesn't know why they were delayed. His separation papers mentioned the medals, but there was never a citation.

 

"You can't help but feel some pride," he said. "I'm even prouder of the fact that I'm sitting here, still living." Harrison savors every day and credits his wife, his family, his friends and the care of the VA for his great longevity. After Harrison was freed, he headed home on a ship across the Pacific with other survivors. They had a longwave radio that they tuned in one Sunday.

[Jack's Son]

This is great news!

I wish they would have had a formal presentation for you.

[bronxboymike]

Hello, I read another article about the same story. From what I understand Mr.Harrison never received his medals upon his discharge at the end of WW2. You would think that due to the fact that Mr.Harrison had to wait nearly 70 years to receive his medals, and because 2 of the medals are the 2nd and 3rd highest honors, that the Government could have a bit more respect. How about a personal presentation by military representatives and including citations for the awards. Anyway, Thank You and God Bless You, Mr.Harrison.

 

J.S., I find myself in agreement with you.

[KASTAUFFER]

It is rather odd the medals would just show up like that. If it was a replacement set, and someone requested them, just mailing them is normal.

 

If he had never been presented them before, I would have thought a formal presentation would have occurred, especially considering one is a DSC.

 

I did some checking to see if I could find the General Order #'s for his DSC and Silver Star, but I was not successful. The records are not complete so it doesnt surprise me they are not on the lists put together by Al Gleim.

 

I did find his LOM... War Dept GO# 102 dated 1946.

 

Thomas R. Harrison was the commanding officer of the 2nd Bn of the 21st Field Artillery Philippine Scouts. I also found his listed as a member of the 88th FA BN Philippine Scouts.

 

He also wrote a book:

 

HARRISON, Thomas R : Author

Title: SURVIVOR Memoir of Defeat and Captivity, Bataan, 1942

ISBN #: 0-916095-29-0

The personal memoirs of the author who fought in the battles until the surrender of Bataan in April 1942. He describes in graphic detail the surrender, the “Death March” as POWs tramped out of the battle zone, and prison camp life in the Philippines and Japan.

 

I have a signed copy of his book and it is a very good read. Its been a few years since I read it, so its time to read it again!

 

There is a copy on Ebay right now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SURVIVOR-byHarriso...I-/300548003103

 

We salute you sir

 

Kurt

[KASTAUFFER]

Here is another story about it:

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/gov...z1LN_story.html

 

 

I am glad you finally got your medals sir!

 

Kurt

 

QUOTE:

 

SALT LAKE CITY — When a World War II veteran in Salt Lake City received a package of seven medals earlier this month, he and his family couldn’t figure out why they had been delivered 66 years after his discharge.

 

It turns out that Tom Harrison actually submitted the request himself more than seven months ago as part of a larger application for military records. The 93-year-old veteran doesn’t remember making the request — so he was surprised when the medals showed up Nov. 4 without any note of explanation.

 

In this Nov. 10, 2011 photo, World War II medals, from left, the Silver Star, Legion of Merit and Distinguished Service Cross, are displayed at veteran Tom Harrison’s Salt Lake City home. Harrison, 93, spent several years in a Japanese prisoner of war camp after enduring the brutal Bataan Death March. He returned home to his family, and more than six decades later, and just last week received seven medals honoring his service.

.“It’s not a mystery,” said Niels Zussblatt, a management analyst with the National Personnel Records Center, after a story by The Associated Press over the Veteran’s Day weekend drew attention to Harrison’s case.

 

But it is understandable that Harrison may not recall his request for the medals, Zussblatt said, when “months later they just show up in a box.”

 

The center, which is based in St. Louis, handles military records requests for the National Archives and Records Administration.

 

There are no records of Harrison receiving the medals previously, Zussblatt said, which is also not unusual for World War II veterans.

 

“At the end of the war, everybody moved on with their lives,” Zussblatt said.

 

The seven medals were delivered to Harrison with only a packing slip from an Army logistics center in Philadelphia enclosed. There was no letter of explanation or certificate, which Zussblatt said is standard for medals distributed for free by the federal government to veterans.

 

Military records are often requested by veterans, family members or even assisted living facilities to ensure that the proper commendations are given to a person when they die, Zussblatt said. On the application, there’s a box to check to request replacement medals. Harrison checked the box.

 

The medals included the Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star. A review of his records shows he also earned the Prisoner of War and Asiatic-Pacific Campaign medals, which will be delivered to him soon.

 

Harrison was stationed in the Philippines prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor with a field artillery unit and training Filipino troops, and then fought the Japanese in the Battle of Bataan. He eventually survived the Bataan Death March and more than three years as a prisoner of the Japanese.

 

The Department of Defense has not returned calls or emails from AP asking about the medals, and other attempts to solve the mystery were unsuccessful. Zussblatt reached out to the AP on Monday after reading the story to offer an explanation for the mysterious medals.

 

When the medals arrived, Harrison said they refreshed some painful memories for him but gave him a sense of renewed pride because they reminded him that the country valued his service.

 

His son, Paul Harrison, said the family has since honored his father with a dinner. He said it made sense that the application came from his father, who was working with a veteran’s group to file paperwork while at an assisted living facility in April.

[FriscoHare]

Mr. Harrison truly deserved them. :salute:

[ItemCo16527]

Just found out today Captain Harrison was a distant cousin of mine. Couldn't believe there was a thread on here about him when I was searching Google for more information on him.