Re: Congress fails to approve Korean War, Cold War medals, by Mark Oliva, Stars

["Gernilee Carter Gramling" <cartergramling@msn.com>]

This entire thing is pathetic - the notion of giving out such a "sissy" 
medal demeans real medals and then after warming to the idea of a Cold War 
Medal, they nix it!   and give themselves a raise.     What service or 
action, or behavior was required of one to receive a "Cold War Metal"?   - 
maybe I'm speaking without knowing anything (for the first time!!!)

Is the proposed, and then nixed, Korean Defense Service Medal different from 
the one being bestowed by the Republice of Korea?    and if not, is it 
reduntant to the original American Korean War Medal?   Guess so.

I think we need to be embarrassed.

Jeez, I'm afraid to ask too many questions or I'll sound like John2.






----Original Message Follows----
From: Brooke Rowe <global-national-security@pacbell.net>
Reply-To: KOREAN-WAR-L@raven.cc.ku.edu
To: KOREAN-WAR-L@raven.cc.ku.edu
Subject: Congress fails to approve Korean War, Cold War medals, by Mark 
Oliva, Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, Thursday, December 20, 2001
Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2001 13:30:09 -0800

Congress fails to approve Korean War, Cold War medals, by Mark Oliva,
Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, Thursday, December 20, 2001

(EXCERPT) Congress failed to approve two medals honoring the duties of
servicemembers in the Korean War and Cold War when it passed the
National Defense Authorization Act for 2002 last week.

The medals were among proposals for the defense budget, which included
the largest pay raise in nearly 20 years.

One day before Congress passed the bill, committees working to
reconcile the differences between the Senate and House versions
announced they would defer the medal issue to the secretary of
defense. Officials at the Defense Department didn’t respond to
queries.

The late Rep. Floyd Spence, R-S.C., initiated the idea for a Cold War
Service Medal. The proposal would have made the medal retroactive for
any servicemember who served honorably between Sept. 2, 1945, and Dec.
26, 1991, the day after the former Soviet Union collapsed. A
commercially available Cold War Service Medal is in circulation over
the Internet, but it’s not an official military decoration.

A proposal for a Korean Defense Service Medal — sponsored in both the
House and Senate versions of the defense bill — was intended for those
who served in Korea or adjacent waters. The dates of service to
qualify for the medal were not decided.

The Cold War Service Medal would have superseded the Cold War
Recognition Certificate, issued by the Department of Defense since
1998. Numbers of certificates already issued weren’t available, but
there is a 12-month backlog to fill requests.

Some servicemembers doubted Congress’ intentions over the measure.

"I don’t know what their rationale was for not authorizing the
medals," said Army Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Moody...

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http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=1813

---------------------------
    Brooke Rowe
    Associate Librarian
    The American War Library
    http://www.americanwarlibrary.com




Regards, Gernilee


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