School Shooting Hero Awarded BS and PH

[FFZFlyer]

Charlotte Observer, May 23, 2019

 

"Hailed as a hero for knocking a shooter off his feet in a UNC Charlotte classroom, Riley Howell was posthumously awarded two of the military’s highest honors in his hometown of Waynesville this week.

Howell, 21, and classmate Ellis “Reed” Parlier, 19, died when a gunman opened fire in their classroom in the Kennedy building on April 30.

 

Four students were injured: Rami Alramadhan, 20, of Saihat, Saudia Arabia; Sean Dehart, 20, of Apex; Emily Houpt, 23, of Charlotte; and Drew Pescaro, 19, of Apex. The 22-year-old suspect, former student Trystan Andrew Terrell, remains jailed on murder and other charges.

Howell ‘’took the assailant off his feet,” preventing injury to more students, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said at a news conference that week, The Charlotte Observer previously reported. Howell was an Army ROTC cadet.

 

On Wednesday, Waynesville Police Chief William Hollingsed and Haywood County Sheriff Greg Christopher presented Howell’s family with a Purple Heart and Bronze Star from Thomas “Stormy” Matteo.

Matteo is president of the Purple Heart Society who received six Purple Heart medals from action with the Marines in Vietnam.

The Purple Heart Medal is awarded to members of the U.S. Armed Services wounded in action and posthumously to those killed in action. The Bronze Star Medal is awarded for “heroic or meritorious achievement of service,” according the American War Library website.

Matteo spoke to Howell’s parents and siblings on FaceTime, according to a Waynesville Police Department Facebook post."

 

I saw this on my news feed the other day and, needless to say, my curiosity was piqued. How could this young man, who courageously lost his life fighting back against a school shooter, be awarded the BS and PH, even as a ROTC member, since there was no evidence that the shooter was a terrorist?

 

Then I read the article more closely. Seems the awards were made by one Thomas "Stormy" Matteo, who claims to be a recipient of 6 PH for his VN service with the Marines. Matteo apparently took it upon himself to make the awards. Why the family accepted these "unofficial" awards is an open question. Matteo also claims to be the president of "The Purple Heart Society," a non-existent group.

 

Does anyone know the highest number of PHs earned by a Marine in VN? I'd like to know that info before I contact the reporter who wrote this story to tell him he, and the family, may have been duped in an unprecedented instance of Stolen Valor.

[TheMariner]

A common thread binding the lives of many of the veterans is their memories of the ones they "left behind." The emotion is especially difficult for Marines, says Tom "Stormy" Matteo, a two-tour veteran and the recipient of six Purple Heart awards. Marines have strong loyalties to their comrades and that drives their desire to leave no one on the field of battle.

"The guilt Marines feel is that (we) should not have left our fellow Marines," Matteo said. "I fought each day to stay alive and to help my friends stay alive. I did not engage in combat for any other reason."

Matteo's first tour in Vietnam was as a rifleman with 3rd Marine Division from 1965-66. He served with D Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment in the Da Nang area and with H Co., 2/4 at Chu Lai.

Following his first tour, Matteo served as a weapons instructor at Parris Island, S.C. There, although his service was important, he always longed to be back in country with his brothers he left behind, he said.

When he returned to Vietnam in 1968, Matteo became a platoon leader with F Co., 2/1, 1st MarDiv. There, his feelings of loyalty and responsibility became even more intense. "Your decisions save and take lives, and combat is a toss of the coin at times. You normally have the capability to control your destiny in civilian life, but combat controls you. I think when you lose a Marine you actually see yourself there. The loss of that man is tremendous to you because you see yourself possibly in that situation one day."

 

 

This was pulled from an article back in 2002, so if his decorations are not accurate it has been going on a long time. I feel 6 awards isn't impossible. As for him awarding his medals to this kids family I'm not a huge fan of that, the kid was not a soldier, yes he was heroic but there are other awards at the state and maybe even some at the federal level that would be more appropriate. This seems to me to be more of nice gesture than anything else, they aren't official awards!

[usmedalman]

Perhaps the newspaper should have used the term "gave" rather than "awarded." I can understand Matteo being touched by the story. If this young man was a member of JROTC and perhaps thinking about joining the service when he graduated, Matteo might have thought that giving his family two of his awards was a way of honoring this young man's sacrifice.