Korea Vet News – Independent Internet Publication - October 4, 2006
Dedicated to the sacrifice and indomitable spirit of Canada's Korean War Veterans
Where are the medals?
Veterans are all aware of the professionalism and high quality of our soldiers, sailors and airmen serving in Afghanistan.
We know that Canadians fighting on the ground there and those engaged in trying to restore and develop the infrastructure, economy, health, well being and dignity of the communities are brave, highly skilled professionals.
We also know that they are not easily picked off like chickens; that in engagements with the enemy they acquit themselves as bravest of the brave.
We’re not talking about swashbuckling heroics necessarily, although that's sometimes an element in the military success.
We’re talking about the bravery of this man risking his life without hesitation to bring a wounded or stranded comrade to safety.
We’re talking about staying calm and doing a job proscribed for a peaceful area in one that has suddenly become a battlefield.
We’re talking about risking life and limb, perhaps for days on end, without wavering… knowing there are mines in the ground, knowing the enemy watches from concealment and with disguise.
This being done knowing that the reward of gaining one more day is an increment of improvement for the lives of the Afghan people and one more day of survival for the brave Canadians who risk it all.
We know that engaged in combat as they are in Afghanistan, facing adversity not just from the enemy but from all of the elements as well, every day our troops do things on the highest order, often well beyond the call of normal duty.
Yet it seems little effort is being made to recognize these brave acts or that unwavering high duty.
Canadian troops have been in the field in Afghanistan now for two years and before that were deployed with a full battalion battle group in 2002.
Yet we never read of any of those brave Canadians being recommended for decorations for heroic service, or for medals that reflect their outstanding devotion to duty.
In the first deployment in 2002 several decorations were awarded and the news media was made aware of them. But they were not Canadian decorations.
There were stories about five Canadian snipers being awarded Bronze Star medals with Valour clasps by the US Army.
They had spent 19 days under fire in the field, attached to a US Army scout team.
The American commander attested that their bravery and skill at arms saved many American lives; that the snipers reduced enemy machinegun emplacements and broke up their concentrations.
The news was controversial because even a month after the medals had been approved in the US and sent to Ottawa nothing official had been heard about them by the troops who would receive them.
A defence department spokesperson said Canada was considering its own awards.
But that was bunk. Here’s how historian Dr. David Bercuson, director of the Centre of Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary, saw it.
He said it was political, a matter of squeamishness in Ottawa.
“Canadians don't kill - they don't even use the word ‘kill’; that's the problem,” he was quoted as saying in news media. “I think the military is not sure that the government is prepared to accept the fact, let alone celebrate the fact, that Canadian soldiers do sometimes end up killing people.
“Absolutely they should get it (the Bronze Star). It would be good for the morale of the guys and good for the morale of the whole unit, and they need a morale boost right now.”
Bronze Stars were also awarded posthumously to four Canadian soldiers who were killed in action.
Additionally, another 21 Bronze Stars were given out in bulk for distribution to soldiers who served with the 1st Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Batle Group. The assignment of medals was left to the unit, as the US Army has little idea of the names of the various individuals who were deserving of the honour.
Eventually, Canada's Chancellery of Honours approved acceptance of all 30 of the Bronze Star medals.
Sources tell us that the 21 Bronze Stars not specified to the four Patricias who were killed in action or the five snipers were distributed only to officers and warrant officers who had served in the theatre.
Although eight Patricias were wounded in Afghanistan alongside the four who were killed none of them were recipients of the medal.
A year after the 2002 deployment, two senior officers and a regimental sergeant major were awarded Canada’s Meritorious Service Cross for their service in Afghanistan. One had been in charge of Canada’s naval operations in the theatre, one commanded the infantry battalion battle group and one was its regimental sergeant major.
The Meritorious Service Cross (Military version) is awarded for “a military deed or activity that has been performed in an outstandingly professional manner, according to a rare high standard that brings considerable benefit or great honour to the Canadian Armed Forces.”
A civilian version of the same decoration recognizes “a deed or an activity that has been performed in an outstandingly professional manner, or with uncommonly high standards; the activity is often innovative, sets an example for others to follow, improves the quality of life of a community and brings considerable benefit or honour to Canada.”
We know Canadian servicemen and servicewomen are not medal collectors. It would be absurd and even disgusting to imply they were serving in Afghanistan to receive medals and awards of tribute from their nation.
Their calling is much, much higher than that. Their performance in the field is that of professionals of greatest dedication.
Yet Canada should indeed be awarding these marks of tribute.
It is a new war and it takes all NCOs and officers time to adjust to the conditions and to the tactics they face in the field.
Yet those who have command assignments should not overlook their responsibility for recognizing the brave and meritorious acts of those who serve with them.
It is not an easy thing to do. It is not easy to call attention to the acts of this man or woman and not to the rest.
We all know that bravery is an assumed general standard for Canadian soldiers but that it may fluctuate in degree.
We all know that the fluid requirements of battle make this one’s actions stand out in one hour and somebody else’s in the next.
We know that many, many acts or bravery and superb devotion to duty and to the people of Afghanistan perhaps are never seen by those in command of the sections, the platoons, the troops, the companies, the squadrons.
We also know that nobody cares if this one is cited for a decoration and the others are not. It’s tribute to all. Often the honour could have gone to several among them, for the bravery and the danger usually is shared by all.
So we think that quietly, commanders in Afghanistan should instruct their subordinate officers and NCOs to be more proactively watchful for the opportunity to bring national recognition to the honourable and brave acts of those they are privileged to lead.
It is not a quest to “conjure honour” because Canadian troops don’t do that. But it should be a quest to recognize it.
If any Canadian soldier is worthy of earning a Bronze Star for Valour from the United States Army, surely he or she has also shown acts of bravery, courage and devotion to duty that should be recognized by a Canadian decoration.
If the Bronze Star medals were accepted and awarded to Canadians and Gazetted like Canadian decorations, those same individuals were equally deserving of Canadian medals for the same acts.
We cite that just to show that there is a paucity of effort or activity or perhaps even lack an appropriate administrative mechanism to ensure the adequate awarding of honours to our Canadians fighting in Afghanistan.
It leads us to ask in all sincerity and to request that the commanders also ask, “Where are the medals?”
When we fought in Korea occasionally citations were written right after an engagement, but sometimes the matter was left until the unit was ready to leave the theatre. In some cases officers huddled and scratched their memories and threw names into the hopper.
Some, even some wounded months before, had faded from thought and were not then put forward as candidates for a decoration.
Let us not overlook any of our brave Canadians serving in Afghanistan.
Our Department of National Defence publicists issue reports on those killed in action, but nothing about their fighting qualities, their courage, their valour.
Similarly they do not issue reports about those who survive and face great peril and hardship and sacrifice for us 24 hours every day of every week.
Why not? Why not develop feature article releases about this action or that; about this feat of bravery or this unusual devotion to duty?
Probably because DND is still dominated by a bureaucratic faction that wants to portray members of the Canadian Forces as aid workers.
As David Bercuson implied, they fear reference to battles and feats of courage in the field might portray the Canadians risking life and limb as “jingoists.” They might fear that they themselves would be so envisioned.
To only report on the deaths of those killed in action in Iraq makes it look like our brave Canadians are being picked off like chickens, without shooting back! Or without being on the offensive and shooting first!
So probably that’s one reason that Canadians are not much honoured by their own Department of National Defence in its various news releases.
Sure, the Prime Minister, or the Chief of the General Staff or the Minister of National Defence and various other Ministers can say complimentary things – observing usually their counselors’ ideas of “political correctness.”
But routine reporting of bravery and devotion to duty and outstanding acts of compassion is something else.
If medals were awarded and the DND publicists issued meaningful, definitive news releases about the awards, the Canadian public – and that of the world – might get a better picture of what our brave Canadians are doing in that far off theatre of war, where they are immersed in hardship and danger.
We know that Canadian officers and NCOs in Afghanistan will say with understandable perplexion – perhaps anger – that they are fully tasked with the job at hand and don’t have time to think about medals.
And that is one of the reasons this article has been written.
For any of the sometimes rabid minority of citizens who seem to hate our military and decry the Canadian Armed Forces – the Canadian Forces, of course, guarantees them such right, even if they may dishonourably, perhaps even seditiously sometimes exercise it – we present that decorations are awarded for many causes.
In several cases, the same high honour awarded to a Canadian Forces serviceman for bravery in the field can also be awarded for situations that do not involve conflict with an enemy.
In some cases those same awards can also be made to civilians.
In the following short list we have omitted all the high awards usually made only to officers, the various classes within the Order of Canada which cannot be awarded for service in the field and also the Meritorious Service Decorations.
Victoria Cross - Of course, Canada’s highest award for bravery, the Victoria Cross is “awarded for the most conspicuous bravery; a daring or preeminent act of valour or self-sacrifice or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy.”
Most people know, at least foggily, that such is the case. Few Canadians have ever received the honour. Only 16 awards were made to members of the Canadian armed force in the Second World War. All recipients are now gone. No Victoria Crosses have been awarded to Canadian in the past 61 years.
Cross of Valour - The next highest award is the Cross of Valour. It is made for “acts of conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme peril,” and can also be awarded to civilians. One does not have to be engaged with an enemy to be recognized with this award.
Star of Military Valour - The next highest award is the Star of Military Valour, also made for distinguished and valourous service in the presence of the enemy.
Star of Valour - The fourth highest Canadian honour (in our abbreviated listing) is the Star of Valour. It is awarded for “conspicuous courage in circumstances of great peril." One does not have to be engaged with or in the presence of the enemy. It can be awarded to civilians as well as Canadian Forces personnel.
Medal of Military Valour - Next in ranking is the Medal of Military Valour. It has criteria similar to the Cross of Valour but likely will be awarded to non-commissioned officers and “other ranks” instead of a cross.
The companion Medal of Valour has similar criteria but can be awarded to civilians
Mentioned in Despatches is not a medal but an oak leaf clasp that can be applied to a campaign medal. A formal citation is issued and the award is recorded in the Canada Gazette.
The Mentioned in Despatches is one that virtually all Canadian Forces personnel qualify for at one time or another, but which goes only to an outstanding few. The criteria for the award is simply “valiant conduct, devotion to duty or other distinguished service.”
With so many honours and awards extant to recognize the sacrifice and contributions of brave Canadians in the field, surely there are many, many instances in Afghanistan where the citations should be written and submitted for the awards.
In the field, when an officer, warrant officer or senior NCO submits a citation for a man within his unit or subunit, it is apolitical.
The one who submits the recommendation receives no recognition or reward for himself, as politicians and appointees are wont to do for awards made in Canada.
The recognition, pure and simple is from one sailor, soldier, airman to another – and it is appreciated and understood by all who serve!
For information about Korea War Veterans in Canada contact
KOREA VETERANS
ASSOCIATION
OF CANADA
Website:
kvacanada.com
j/k. Good on him.
