Well, I was at the Advisor School where the MACV advisors to the RVN and the RF/PF (Regional Forces,Popular Forces-Rough Puffs/) were trained. That course was 3 weeks, included some language training.
Not surprising that he had so many good conduct medals. What commanding officer would bust down a MOH winner short of a murder being committed? He never got busted down, but he was punished by not getting Top Sargent rank. He was the “break glass in cast of war” guy. Keep that type around if you can.
@@TangoSierra01 No kidding, one of my battalion commanders was a MOH holder and another unit that I was with our Sgt Major was a Navy Cross holder. They were Gods to us.
@@TheMarkemmy Likely too. The film has so many problems in its depiction of the Marine Corps at the time. Still, Eastwood is simply awesome in the role.
Durning was awarded both the silver star and the bronze star for valor and the World War II victory medal. Also in 2008 the French consul presented him with the national order of the legion of honor.
Was a young Corporal at the time this movie came out. After watching it at the base movie theater , my buddies and I almost walked out halfway through due to the embarrassing lack of realism. A 55 year-old E-7 ? A CMOH decorated platoon Sergeant who gets harassed by an incompetent staff officer ? Ridiculous.
They explain it in the film by saying he had a break in service. The whole point of the film is shithead staff officers trying to force retire him regardless of his experience level.
From what I heard.. the Army had an issue when the film was being made because the battle at Heart Break Ridge during the Korean War was not a Marine Engagement...so the producers had to come up with an alternate scenario. I.E...Highway was former Army . Please correct me if Im mistaken.
Not to mention that twisted explanation of how he served at Heartbreak Ridge in the Korean War when that was an Army operation. Or the BS with a married Marine living in a Quonset Hut like Gomer Pyle having to sneak off post to visit his family? And that thing with the AK in training, Highway would have been buried _under_ Leavenworth for that stunt.
Great job on the video! I think the Armed Forces expeditionary Medal was awarded to Highway for Operation Blue Bat in Lebanon 1958. It seems to fit the time line. Keep up the great videos. Semper Fi
Excellent video! Few Civilians can wrap their minds around this type of soldier. I meet quite a few of them during my younger years. I hope we still attract that sort of man into our military. We need them.
Hey, maybe you could give the medals from Captain Nelson and Captain Roger Healey ("I Dream of Jeannie") a look? I once heard that they have rather accurate ribbons, with some extremely rare decorations (they are astronauts, after all).
Healey's U.S. Army astronaut badge would be very rare. According to NASA, only 18 astronauts have come from the Army. The USAF and USN have historically dominated the astronaut program.
There has now been at least one astronaut from the US Coast Guard, certainly the rarest service from which to select an astronaut, though fully capable. They wear the same astronaut wings as the Navy and Marine Corp as they are a Naval service.
If I recall correctly, I read something that a criticism of the movie was his rank to age to campaign medals (which I think is brought up in the movie) is that he should be an E-8 or E-9 not an E-7
Great video! You must have had this in the works for a while! I saw it come out a couple of days after I made a comment suggesting it in your Gunny Hartman video
Major Malcolm Powers may not like Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway; but it is commented that, in his supply role, his eyes and his pencil are (too) sharp. It is not too much of a stretch to suggest that (other than the incident which prompted his move to the supply side) older officers might still have ticked off his good conduct years without a troubled conscience. Major Powers dislikes Highway initially because of his predecessor; but it’s clear that the general in command of the Grenada operation values him - and he clearly knows how to manage a Rupert.
Unfortunately, you missed one brother but what a great show. There was a V device on his bronze star. If you freeze frame the scene where Major powers looks at his medals you can clearly see it.
I was stationed at 3rd Tracks Motor Transport on DelMar beach on Camp Pendleton when they filmed it. We were told they were filming at Camp Horno , Recon. Movie is fun to watch even though it doesn’t have good acting
I love how in these vids on ficticious people,you can interprit the timeline and posible awardings. Cudoes to the prop department on putting the ribbon bar together,and historicly accurate. Keep up the good investigating. Can you do a bit on CSM Nelson Goodie and SFC Clell Hazard from " Gardens of Stone"?
Daniel, one thing to consider about the Good Conduct Medal in US service is they can be awarded for as little as one year of service in a war zone. So, in this example, Gunny Highway could have earned three GCMs for each tour of duty in Korea, and Vietnam. That might give some gap years where he wouldn't be awarded the medal due to less than stellar conduct. Perhaps he suffered PTSD when missing his Cosmopolitan subscription.
Also, if your punishment is nonjudicial, and your CO wants a really good unit record, they may overlook some indiscretions. Not supposed to, but, this was before computers. Also, he may have never had paper on his wrongs.
The Vietnamese Gallantry Cross is a unit award. On his ribbon rack the ribbon is surrounded by a golden frame. That makes it a unit and not an individual award. Similar to the Korean Presential Unit Citation he is wearing.
There are two similar items; the Unit award is the gold 1" X 3/4" box. Every soldier earned it at the 12 month (in Vietnam) mark. The Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry was a full size medal, awarded for valor in action. Roughly the equivalent of the Bronze Star.
@@penandsword4386 There four levels of the Gallantry Cross, Bronze Star, Silver Star, Gold Star and with Palm. However, you are incorrect on every soldier earning an individual gallantry cross after a 12 month tour. I did not receive one after I finished my tour of duty. None of my brothers in arms received an individual VCG w/P for a tour of duty. My DD Form 214 states I was awarded a unit VCG w/P. Besides in the context of Gunny Highway he clearly is wearing a unit award.
The Vietnamese Gallantry Cross is also an individual recognition award . True , the medal can be issued as a Unit Award ,also , but the individual award is common for the Vietnam War. It like the VSM was issued to nearly everyone that served overseas .
Checkout the Dress Uniform of General Patton. while not a many as some, he had a lot of awards from other countries he liberated. If you ever get a chance to visit FT Knox in Kentucky, his museum is just north of the Gold Vault but you don‘t need to go on base to visit it. Cheers
At the end of WW2 the US ordered 1,000,000 purple hearts for the invasion of Japan. That never happened...and the US is still issuing those medals today. In the USMC, we called the GCM the "beat the SgtMaj Badge"...for not getting caught doing naughty things...😅
in the British Army the equivilent is the LSGC medal, Long Service & Good Conduct,,,, AKA 15 Years of undeteceted crime :) lol I never got mine, even after 17 years!
One movie I'd suggest you looking into-was PFC Holley's medals in: Battleground. It might be a challenge for you because it's in black and white. You could see the "Fruit Salad" he was wearing at the near beginning of the movie when he came into a tent. He'd been wounded during Operation Market Garden and just returned to duty just in time to fight in the Battle of the Bulge. As you're very adept at these things and an excellent researcher, I think could easily do this. Forgot to mention that PFC Holley was played by Van Johnson.
He would've gotten another star for his Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal at the very least. Probably another award for the Purple Heart. Possibly another award for valor.
Additional star on his Armed Forces expeditionary medal and most likely a personal decoration. The Grenada action would rate him the Navy Commendation with V for commanding the force, possibly a Bronze Star. Also, he is wounded in the movie, so add another Purple Heart.
@@jcrewjim a NavComm isn't automatically awarded for combat. i was in Grenada and didn't get a V on either my BSM or Comm Medal. and he already as a V on his NavComm. you can only wear one per medal/ribbon. and the criteria for a PH is that he must be a attended to by medical personnel and he wasn't, and he had no visible wounds. he was just knocked to the ground. and this vid shows what he wore before Grenada.
The thing that always bothered me about this movie was how disrespectfully the major treated a MOH recipient. No way on earth an active duty marine with these medals would be treated so awfully. He’d be like a walking God.
So fun fact that may lead to an explanation, Eastwood originally wrote this script as an Army Ranger. Although i have a hard time believing a Ranger Officer would be a douche like this, I can see it. The Army, however rejected the premise of Highways character and did not want to portray Army or Rangers in such a light. The Marines, however, were on board. At least thats what i had seen on a snipit video years back…
@ seems strange that the Marines would be ok with the script and a MOH recipient treated so disrespectfully. Besides the major treating him like crap, the recon platoon, which was the elite of USMC, was full of idiots and was also treated like garbage. But don’t get me wrong I still think it’s a decent movie.
Great video, the Marine brass did not like this movie. I will say I served with many Gunny Highway types in the Marines. I think they are missing some like the Army good conduct and maybe army achievement medal or other army awards. Check out James Earl Jones in Gardens of Stone.
Thank you for your service, from across the Atlantic. I was privileged to work with some of the USMC in Afghanistan and those boys could fight almost as well as we could (😂). My personal achieving was to get a Marine to start to enjoy drinking a good cup of tea. I wonder whether he was drummed out of the. Corps…
Highway's military career is complicated because the Army refused to participate after reviewing the script so Eastwood approached the Marine Corps which agreed to support it. The Battle of Heartbreak Ridge was key to the plot which meant, as primarily a US Army battle, that Highway had to be a soldier and a Marine at different times in his life. Then the Corps saw a finished cut of the film and disowned the whole project due to language and inaccuracies.
@@MarkBluck True...but that was the first time as Good Conduct Medals go. He won't be getting one for this enlistment, but it doesn't take away the previous ones.
I noticed that Highway wears his Medal of Honor ribbon on his uniform throughout the movie - but no one mentions it until three quarters of the way through the movie.
@@miserablesnotling I disagree, it's a shortcoming in the script - which is full of problems. Not even Major Powers mentioned it when he read Highway's file. If he had said "Your status as a Medal of Honor winner does not give you any special authority under my command," it would have solved the problem. Heck, by 1983 there would have been maybe two or three MOH winners on active duty, so to see one arrive on base without any fanfare strikes me as unusual.
@@KillerKane0 I know he would. What i mean was that in the movie, there was a line with him and the SGM talking about, and that they were in the Army at the time. It would mean that his 24 years in the Marines was not his entire service time.
In the original script, Highway was in the Army, but when asked for support, the Army saw the original script and said "no way." Even with a MOH, the Army would've booted Highway due to his alcoholism and conduct. So the script was re-written, and presented to the Marine Corps.
Highway's military career is complicated because the Army refused to participate after reviewing the script so Eastwood approached the Marine Corps which agreed to support it. However the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge was key to the plot which meant, as primarily a US Army battle, that Highway had to be a soldier and a Marine at different times in his life. Then the Corps saw a finished cut of the film and disowned the whole project due to language and inaccuracies.
The premise is possible but very rare. Most MOH recipients aren't able to serve anymore. There was one Marine MOH winner, Jacklyn Lucas, who later served in the Army.
@@KillerKane0I’d say that’s 60% accurate. It really comes down to the individual. The MoH is a ticket out of combat, but MoH recipients tend to have an enough pull to get back in theater, especially during WW2, Korea, and Vietnam. In modern military Sgt. Major Payne of Delta is a current example as a still active delta operator and MoH recipient
I see these movie characters and smile. My father was a career Marine . 30 years retired as a Master Gunner Sergeant ( the one with a 🍍). Veteran of WWII , Korea, Vietnam, and other conflicts. He never talked about what he did all those years he was gone. He was a quiet, patient man that feared no man. Full of surprises my father was a non-commissioned pilot, and spoke / understood Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean and some others. He surprised many people talking in their language here in the Midwest. So in short I’m not impressed by to many fictional characters.
@BetterThanLifeProd I retired from the Army with 22 yrs. I've been retired for 32 years. Highway must have not been infantry in the Army and in combat while in the Army. The Army Edwards the following adward for combat, CIB,CMB,and CAB. Marines don't award CIB's only Combat Action Badge. Interesting story. In 1971-1972 I was a Dustoff medic in Vietnam. I was not award the Combat Medical Badge. Dustoff medics were not authorized to get CMB. However in 1991 I served in Desert storm in an Armor unit (Tanks). The regulation was you had to be in infantry to receive a CMB. The regulation was changed and authorized award for CMB so I was awarded a CMB. Flight media's in Iraq and Afghanistan are now authorized to be awarded a CMB ,for the same job I did in Nam.
It is worth noting that Highway’s Bronze Star, Navy Commendation and Navy Achievement medals all have the “V” clasp indicating that these awards were awarded for valorous acts in combat. It is possible the subsequent Bronze Star awards were received without the “Combat V”, however, speaking from great experience, it is next to impossible for an Enlisted Marine to receive this medal in this way.
How did you come by that he'd been in the army in korea??? I can't remember that bit from the movie? I remember him mentioning korea,but not being in the army. I always thought it was Marines Army,Marines.
The movie was suppose to be about a US Army Ranger going back to 2nd Ranger Battalion, but they army say script and pulled support for the movie cause the arm was trying to change its imagine at that time. So the way he was in an Army unit is talked about when the name of the movie is mention. Highway won his MOH at heart break ridge where he and chewzu were marines attached to the US Army 2nd Infantry division (which has happened before and is how 2ID was first formed as a joint army/marine unit).
Late in the movie, Sergeant Major Choozoo explains to Jones that they, along with Mary's husband who later died at Khe Sanh, had served in the 23rd Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea. The three of them had survived Heartbreak Ridge. They really should have explained better early in the film. When he introduces Highway to Major Powers, Choozoo mentions that Highway had served in "Korea, Dominican in 65, three tours in Nam." Powers was not impressed by this. If he had said "You may have won the Medal of Honor in Korea, but that does not give you any special consideration while you are under my command," it would have solved the script problem." While this is perhaps unnecessarily strict in order to generate the conflict between him and Highway, Powers was essentially correct. He even says later that Highway was one of his men. The script needed some fine tuning.
At the bar there was a picture and the master sgt explained to the guitar playing marine that he and Highway were at Heartbreak Ridge and that at the end of the battle all that were left was the commander and the master sergeant and Thomas Highway. He says the were young and in the army.
Hopefully a few Marines can chime in about how easy and/or difficult receiving a Good Conduct Medal is. My time in the Army I saw a number of soldiers who had GCMs who shouldn't have had any. Even I have a couple extras.
In the Army, it's basically go three years without getting an Article 15 or a letter of reprimand, and you pick it up. I used to call it the "undetected crime medal." 😉
Every 3 years of Honorable and Faithful Service, Gunny Highway probably wouldn’t have gotten any based how the movie starts but most likely his commands let things slide due to the MOH
@@zwinmar21 "Sir, I have no idea of how we ended up with twice the tracer ammo we were supposed to have for night fire qualification. But you have to admit it looked really cool." (yeah, that happened)
This movie was suppose to be about an US Army Ranger going back to 2nd Ranger Battalion, and how there mission is Gernada went. But when the army read the script they pulled their support and funding, needing military support they contacted the marines and they were all about it. That is why some of the story line/scenes dont make sense. The calling for air support over the land line did actually happen but its was 82nd back to Fort Bragg. The name of the movie is named after a battle the the US Army fought in Korea, so when they army pulled funding they figured they would just say that highway and chewie were attached to the 2nd Infantry Division. The 2ID was actually a joint division in the first World War. So that is why some of his medals just dont make sense.
As far as the Good Conduct Medal goes, you can have 1 Non-Judicial Punishment (NJP) per period. So he could have gotten in trouble once every 3 years. Also, in Highway’s time, Discipline and punishment were handed out in a different manner than it is today. Mainly paperwork was not the way it was handled unless it was a bad offense.
Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rab Junior from JAG would be an interesting one to do started out as a naval aviator and then became Member of the judge advocate general core as an attorney
You missed a few: 2nd row up from the bottom, far right ribbon: Navy & Marine Corps Sea Service Deployment ribbon, with bronze star. Navy units that deploy at sea get one for each deployment, Gunny Highway has it because he's been on two deployments in a Marine Expeditionary Unit. 3rd Row up from bottom, far left ribbon: Meritorious Unit Commendation, with a bronze star for a 2nd award.
Vietnamese, like Russian and Czech (the two courses I took at DLI) is 47 weeks. To successfully complete the course you need to obtain a minimum proficiency of 2/2/2 on a scale of 1-5, however the maximum proficiency the testing measures is 3/3/3 and the third number is speaking, which is only tested at DLI.
The National Defense Service Medal is given to all that enlist during times of war. I was given one when I joined the US Navy in 1970 during the Viet Nam conflict. I did not serve in Viet Nam.
There's a scene from We Were Soldiers were an Officer orders a platoon to form up in their dress uniform (or something to that effect) and one of the Sergeants comes back buck naked wearing the Medal of Honor. It's a great scene, probably too good to keep in the film for fear of throwing the storyline offtrack.
Not bad for a guy that never made it past Spec4 "Lifeguard" at the Monterey CA Army post. He served, and that cool with me but as he was drafted in 1951 I still wonder why he never ended up in Korea. Lucky man.
It can often be a simple twist of fate where someone is deployed. My father was a Marine and served for three of his four years in the Pacific. He participated in numerous campaigns including, Saipan and Guam. He stayed in the reserves and six years later was recalled and deployed to Korea. His brothers also served in both army and Marines. They were active duty during Korea and never deployed to Korea. They served in Germany for the duration of Korea. I have a cousin who enlisted in the Marines in 1968. He was sure he would go to Vietnam. It never happened. He did a sea duty tour and then became an embassy security guard.
I had a brother in law that served as a truck driver in Germany during the Vietnam war. Two weeks after he was discharged his unit was notified for duty in Vietnam.
Yes I believe he died in Malta whist filming for Gladiator. The place it happened is called "The Pub" which is full of his and the Royal Navy's memorabilia. Glad you are enjoying the channel!
@ The Dit (story) is that the booze up did for him, I thought I should refrain from mentioning it unless it was wider knowledge as it clearly is… Keep up the good work
i was awarded 23 ribbons during my time in service. (army) as a young specialist i had to ask my first sergeant how to show i was awarded some of them more than than 6 times. he was not amused, but showed me the manual.
I’m very impressed that movie makers go to such research to get this accurate - unfortunately it is annoying that they can’t do this with tanks or panzers!
Okay, here we go again. The MOH shown is the Army's MOH, the Navy and Marine version has an anchor clasp. The Airforce MOH has lightning bolts with the head of liberty on the front.
Your pronunciation of Tae Guk is getting better! The women magazines? Recon 101: Intel gathering. How about a breakdown for LTC Frank Slade (Al Pacino, Scent of a Woman)?
@@dave-d-grunt I understand that, but I have googled MC GCMs (these were older) and they also had horizontal trying to find info about placement of the devices, things change over the years or decades
I do plan to look at real life gallantry awards next year. Aussie/NZs will definitely be covered. I really want to look into more detail on their experience during the Vietnam War.
Someone well below had mentioned that soldiers who served in one branch, could not receive awards from another branch-which he never served in. That's wrong. Check out marine: Littleton ("Tony") Waller-who ended up as a General. He was awarded this rare award: Specially Meritorious Service Medal The letter of August 3, 1904, awarding this medal to Waller "in recognition of your gallant conduct in assisting in rescuing crews from the burning Spanish ships after the battle of Santiago de Cuba on July 3, 1898" is reproduced above. This is one of only 93 known awards of the decoration, given for "specially meritorious service, otherwise than in battle, during the Spanish-American War". It was not awarded before the war with Spain, nor since. Because it recognizes heroism not in direct contact with the enemy, it may be considered a forerunner to the present-day Navy and Marine Corps Medal. The decoration is a bronze cross Pattee, with an anchor in its center encircled by a wreath of oak and laurel and the inscription "U.S. Naval Campaign West Indies". The arms of the cross are inscribed "Specially Meritorious Service 1898", and it is suspended from a bright red ribbon. Bureau of Navigation Department of the Navy Washington, D.C., August 3, 1904 LIEUTENANT COLONEL Littleton W.T. Waller, U.S.M.C. Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Norfolk, Va. Sir: The Bureau has much pleasure in transmitting herewith a specially meritorious medal awarded to you in recognition of your gallant conduct in assisting in rescuing crews from the burning Spanish ships after the battle of Santiago de Cuba on July 3, 1898. This medal is issued in accordance with the provisions of an act of Congress, approved March 3, 1901, which authorized the Secretary of the Navy to issue such medals to the officers and men of the Navy and Marine Corps who rendered specially meritorious service, otherwise than in battle, during the Spanish-American War. Very respectfully, G.A. Converse, Chief of Bureau Waller's was one of only ninety-three known awards of this medal, and is believed to be the only one awarded to a U.S. Marine. Because it recognizes heroism not in direct combat, the Specially Meritorious Service Medal can be considered a predecessor of today's Navy and Marine Corps Medal. He's the only Marine awarded that medal.
Prince Phillip received the 5th clasp to his CD in 2016. Others with 5 clasps were the Queen Mother and Air Commodore Leonard Birchall RCAF who was known as the "Saviour of Ceylon". Air Cdre Birchall passed away in 2006. Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II also received 5 clasps to the CD however she never wore them on the medal; based on the date that she first was appointed an honorary colonel of a Canadian regiment (1947), she would have been entitled to a 6th clasp.
The Good Conduct Medal is awarded for 4 years of a clean military record. Civilian mishaps do not matter unless the military is involved on active duty. Striking a fellow enlisted or officer while off duty does not matter. The movie never specified where Highway struck Power's officer friend. Also a reduction in rank breaks the cycle for the medal.
Two famous soldiers medals from the old British empire I suggest you analyse, first Harry Flash man, a renowned fighter of sorts and Sir Sidney Rough-Diamond,soldier turned diploma's I assume.
I’m not sure how they did it prior to 2005, but while I was active duty, as long as you weren’t disciplined with paperwork you could still get a good conduct medal. That is to say, it’s possible for Gunny Highway to have never “officially” been punished for things…it was probably an oversight though lol.
He received the MoH during his Army service so he'd wear the Army medal while a Marine. Again, it doesn't happen often - only once by my understanding, when a Marine MoH recipient served in the Army in the early 1960s.
At the time of the movies production the Purple Heart was the ranked just ahead of the Good Conduct Medal. On 13 Jun 83 The Purple Heart was place ahead of all Meritorious Service Medals.
While in AIT at Fort Dix we had a high ranking g sergeant that spent at least two tours in Nam and had a limb guessing from being wounded but he would not talk about his time in Nam. We were his last class because he was retiring. He gave the clueles second LT grieve. After he told him " I spent more F*** ing time in chow line then you spent in the mother F*** ing Army we laughed out loud. Our captain was cool and gave him a long rope. This sergeant know that over halve of of class would be shipped to Nam and made us run & do PT and three ruff forced marches to get us in shape. Drank beer a couple nights a week & eat a lot of PX food in AIT but with all his wise training lost over 5 pounds.
In short, even the highest ranking officers would show Gunny Highway respect.
The general certainly did when he met him at the party. But he should have met GySgt Highway when he arrived on base.
@@KillerKane0 And no officer would ever say "Medal of Honor winner."
But in this movie, a USNA graduate Marine Major would not.
@@KillerKane0 That was a Lt. Colonel, not a General. But . . . yeah.
@@dlxmarks "Recipient." But Hollywood writers wouldn't know that.
The course for Vietnamese is about 50 weeks, through the Defense Language Institute in Monterey California
Thanks for sharing, much appreciated
Well, I was at the Advisor School where the MACV advisors to the RVN and the RF/PF (Regional Forces,Popular Forces-Rough Puffs/) were trained. That course was 3 weeks, included some language training.
Not surprising that he had so many good conduct medals. What commanding officer would bust down a MOH winner short of a murder being committed? He never got busted down, but he was punished by not getting Top Sargent rank. He was the “break glass in cast of war” guy. Keep that type around if you can.
MOH recipient...it's not from a contest.
@@TheMarkemmy maybe there were no spots available for Highway to gain and he was set for retirement
@@KillerKane0 No spots to gain when you get passed over often enough.
@@TangoSierra01 No kidding, one of my battalion commanders was a MOH holder and another unit that I was with our Sgt Major was a Navy Cross holder. They were Gods to us.
@@TheMarkemmy Likely too. The film has so many problems in its depiction of the Marine Corps at the time. Still, Eastwood is simply awesome in the role.
Dan Blocker of Bonanza fame was a war hero from Korea, a Master Sergeant, and well worth a look at his medals.
James Garner also, he got to Purple Hearts. And James Arness who was wounded in WWII in Sicily
A great many "movie and TV stars" were decorated veterans!
@@garykubodera9528 Charles Durning I believe received the Silver Star
Durning was awarded both the silver star and the bronze star for valor and the World War II victory medal. Also in 2008 the French consul presented him with the national order of the legion of honor.
I feel like it was more likely that he received his first Purple Heart in Korea. Almost no one earns a Medal of Honor unscathed.
Yes I’d imagine it’s almost ubiquitously awarded together.
This is the second video that the algorithm has sent me. I'm now subscribed. We talk badly about RUclips, but this time they did a good job.
Was a young Corporal at the time this movie came out. After watching it at the base movie theater , my buddies and I almost walked out halfway through due to the embarrassing lack of realism.
A 55 year-old E-7 ? A CMOH decorated platoon Sergeant who gets harassed by an incompetent staff officer ?
Ridiculous.
Yep, I had a hard time with that movie also....at that time, no service would put up with that kind of behavior. All those things didn't add up.
Couldn't agree more .
Anybody that actually served in the military has to laugh at that Hollywood version .
They explain it in the film by saying he had a break in service. The whole point of the film is shithead staff officers trying to force retire him regardless of his experience level.
From what I heard.. the Army had an issue when the film was being made because the battle at Heart Break Ridge during the Korean War was not a Marine Engagement...so the producers had to come up with an alternate scenario. I.E...Highway was former Army .
Please correct me if Im mistaken.
Not to mention that twisted explanation of how he served at Heartbreak Ridge in the Korean War when that was an Army operation. Or the BS with a married Marine living in a Quonset Hut like Gomer Pyle having to sneak off post to visit his family? And that thing with the AK in training, Highway would have been buried _under_ Leavenworth for that stunt.
Another excellent exposition - the channel just keeps getting better and better! Keep up the good work, Daniel!
Thanks for the kind words, much appreciated!
You deserve a medal for getting through that list
Thanks , it was emotional!
Really enjoy this program Sir, thank you for your hard work.
Thanks Chris, I'm glad you enjoyed the video
Great job on the video! I think the Armed Forces expeditionary Medal was awarded to Highway for Operation Blue Bat in Lebanon 1958. It seems to fit the time line. Keep up the great videos. Semper Fi
Thanks!
Excellent video! Few Civilians can wrap their minds around this type of soldier. I meet quite a few of them during my younger years. I hope we still attract that sort of man into our military. We need them.
Hey, maybe you could give the medals from Captain Nelson and Captain Roger Healey ("I Dream of Jeannie") a look?
I once heard that they have rather accurate ribbons, with some extremely rare decorations (they are astronauts, after all).
Healey's U.S. Army astronaut badge would be very rare. According to NASA, only 18 astronauts have come from the Army. The USAF and USN have historically dominated the astronaut program.
There has now been at least one astronaut from the US Coast Guard, certainly the rarest service from which to select an astronaut, though fully capable. They wear the same astronaut wings as the Navy and Marine Corp as they are a Naval service.
Would love to see a video on Audie Murphy in To Hell and Back considering he played himself
He'd be writing for months describing them. "-))
Another movie Marine worth doing is General Hummel from The Rock 1996.
You should do Brigadier Lethbridge-Steward from Dr. Who.
Yep, he's on the to-do list
@ClaspsofCourage 👍
If I recall correctly, I read something that a criticism of the movie was his rank to age to campaign medals (which I think is brought up in the movie) is that he should be an E-8 or E-9 not an E-7
He was passed over because of the trouble he kept getting in. The Sgt Major in the movie served with him in the Army.
Meh, i made E4 & E5 twice. Was an E7 when I retired after 20yrs.
Yeah, not uncommon at all.
Not uncommon especially in that timeframe his past trouble probably kept him the below zone and he was never selected for E8.
That was a good one!
I had forgotten about that film so I will dig it out!
Looking forward to the next subject!!
Thanks John, hoping to do some research on the Man Who Would be King this week.
Great video! You must have had this in the works for a while! I saw it come out a couple of days after I made a comment suggesting it in your Gunny Hartman video
Do Col Troutman, Rambo's CO.
Yes , he's on the to-do list
Yeah and SF colonel who doesn't know how to wear a beret
Major Malcolm Powers may not like Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway; but it is commented that, in his supply role, his eyes and his pencil are (too) sharp. It is not too much of a stretch to suggest that (other than the incident which prompted his move to the supply side) older officers might still have ticked off his good conduct years without a troubled conscience.
Major Powers dislikes Highway initially because of his predecessor; but it’s clear that the general in command of the Grenada operation values him - and he clearly knows how to manage a Rupert.
General told Powers to go back to Supply because he was a walking Cluster Flub as a Infantry officer
Unfortunately, you missed one brother but what a great show. There was a V device on his bronze star. If you freeze frame the scene where Major powers looks at his medals you can clearly see it.
I was stationed at 3rd Tracks Motor Transport on DelMar beach on Camp Pendleton when they filmed it. We were told they were filming at Camp Horno , Recon. Movie is fun to watch even though it doesn’t have good acting
Great, thanks for sharing. I bet it was hard for "the Swede" not to be recognised.
I love how in these vids on ficticious people,you can interprit the timeline and posible awardings. Cudoes to the prop department on putting the ribbon bar together,and historicly accurate.
Keep up the good investigating.
Can you do a bit on CSM Nelson Goodie and SFC Clell Hazard from " Gardens of Stone"?
Thanks, I will have to watch the movie and see who these characters are.
@@ClaspsofCourage Excellent movie with James Caan.
And he had a lead bar in his right pocket to balance all those medals on his parade uniform...
Daniel, one thing to consider about the Good Conduct Medal in US service is they can be awarded for as little as one year of service in a war zone. So, in this example, Gunny Highway could have earned three GCMs for each tour of duty in Korea, and Vietnam. That might give some gap years where he wouldn't be awarded the medal due to less than stellar conduct. Perhaps he suffered PTSD when missing his Cosmopolitan subscription.
In the USMC it took 3 years to get a good conduct medal.
Also, if your punishment is nonjudicial, and your CO wants a really good unit record, they may overlook some indiscretions. Not supposed to, but, this was before computers. Also, he may have never had paper on his wrongs.
The Vietnamese Gallantry Cross is a unit award. On his ribbon rack the ribbon is surrounded by a golden frame. That makes it a unit and not an individual award. Similar to the Korean Presential Unit Citation he is wearing.
There are two similar items; the Unit award is the gold 1" X 3/4" box. Every soldier earned it at the 12 month (in Vietnam) mark. The Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry was a full size medal, awarded for valor in action. Roughly the equivalent of the Bronze Star.
@@penandsword4386 There four levels of the Gallantry Cross, Bronze Star, Silver Star, Gold Star and with Palm. However, you are incorrect on every soldier earning an individual gallantry cross after a 12 month tour. I did not receive one after I finished my tour of duty. None of my brothers in arms received an individual VCG w/P for a tour of duty. My DD Form 214 states I was awarded a unit VCG w/P. Besides in the context of Gunny Highway he clearly is wearing a unit award.
@@josephderrico6254 I said, at the one year mark, the soldiers received the Unit Award. The full sized medal is something else.
@@penandsword4386 Sorry about that. I miss read your comment. Thank you for pointing that out.
The Vietnamese Gallantry Cross is also an individual recognition award . True , the medal can be issued as a Unit Award ,also , but the individual award is common for the Vietnam War. It like the VSM was issued to nearly everyone that served overseas .
Checkout the Dress Uniform of General Patton. while not a many as some, he had a lot of awards from other countries he liberated. If you ever get a chance to visit FT Knox in Kentucky, his museum is just north of the Gold Vault but you don‘t need to go on base to visit it. Cheers
I’m glad and always curious about all of his medals/awards
question. at 13.38 . Was it called "I" as in alphabet GHI? The other areas (using roman numerals ) are 2,3 and 4 Corp
Letter
At the end of WW2 the US ordered 1,000,000 purple hearts for the invasion of Japan. That never happened...and the US is still issuing those medals today. In the USMC, we called the GCM the "beat the SgtMaj Badge"...for not getting caught doing naughty things...😅
in the British Army the equivilent is the LSGC medal, Long Service & Good Conduct,,,,
AKA 15 Years of undeteceted crime :) lol
I never got mine, even after 17 years!
One movie I'd suggest you looking into-was PFC Holley's medals in: Battleground. It might be a challenge for you because it's in black and white. You could see the "Fruit Salad" he was wearing at the near beginning of the movie when he came into a tent. He'd been wounded during Operation Market Garden and just returned to duty just in time to fight in the Battle of the Bulge. As you're very adept at these things and an excellent researcher, I think could easily do this. Forgot to mention that PFC Holley was played by Van Johnson.
I flew with Fred Ferguson MOH recipient from the Battle of Hue when I was a young Army pilot. It was quite an interesting experience...
He should have earned an award of some type for the Grenada. Been interesting to know what that would have been.
the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal was awarded for service in Grenada. that's where i earned mine.
He would've gotten another star for his Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal at the very least. Probably another award for the Purple Heart. Possibly another award for valor.
Yeah, but that would have been awarded after the movie was over.
Additional star on his Armed Forces expeditionary medal and most likely a personal decoration. The Grenada action would rate him the Navy Commendation with V for commanding the force, possibly a Bronze Star. Also, he is wounded in the movie, so add another Purple Heart.
@@jcrewjim a NavComm isn't automatically awarded for combat. i was in Grenada and didn't get a V on either my BSM or Comm Medal. and he already as a V on his NavComm. you can only wear one per medal/ribbon. and the criteria for a PH is that he must be a attended to by medical personnel and he wasn't, and he had no visible wounds. he was just knocked to the ground. and this vid shows what he wore before Grenada.
I went through Camp Penelton in 65 with a number of Santa Domingo Marines on their way to Vietnam
The thing that always bothered me about this movie was how disrespectfully the major treated a MOH recipient. No way on earth an active duty marine with these medals would be treated so awfully. He’d be like a walking God.
So fun fact that may lead to an explanation, Eastwood originally wrote this script as an Army Ranger. Although i have a hard time believing a Ranger Officer would be a douche like this, I can see it. The Army, however rejected the premise of Highways character and did not want to portray Army or Rangers in such a light. The Marines, however, were on board. At least thats what i had seen on a snipit video years back…
@ seems strange that the Marines would be ok with the script and a MOH recipient treated so disrespectfully. Besides the major treating him like crap, the recon platoon, which was the elite of USMC, was full of idiots and was also treated like garbage. But don’t get me wrong I still think it’s a decent movie.
@ yea i dont know just what i saw. It is a decent movie. I do watch it when its on!
Yeah a God of war
Great video, the Marine brass did not like this movie. I will say I served with many Gunny Highway types in the Marines. I think they are missing some like the Army good conduct and maybe army achievement medal or other army awards. Check out James Earl Jones in Gardens of Stone.
Thanks for the recommendation, I will add him to my research list
Thank you for your service, from across the Atlantic. I was privileged to work with some of the USMC in Afghanistan and those boys could fight almost as well as we could (😂). My personal achieving was to get a Marine to start to enjoy drinking a good cup of tea. I wonder whether he was drummed out of the. Corps…
Highway's military career is complicated because the Army refused to participate after reviewing the script so Eastwood approached the Marine Corps which agreed to support it. The Battle of Heartbreak Ridge was key to the plot which meant, as primarily a US Army battle, that Highway had to be a soldier and a Marine at different times in his life. Then the Corps saw a finished cut of the film and disowned the whole project due to language and inaccuracies.
Also, a combat action ribbon probably with multiple awards.
It would have been cool to have covered the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge and also showed the medal for participation in Operation Urgent Fury.
12:02 Good Conduct Medal is all about not gettig caught.
Yes but the movie starts with Highway in jail charged with disorderly conduct. So he was caught.
@@MarkBluck True...but that was the first time as Good Conduct Medals go. He won't be getting one for this enlistment, but it doesn't take away the previous ones.
@@MarkBluck GCM isn’t about civilian trouble.
In the British Army the LSGC is called the award for undiscovered crime.
A medal of honor helps too.
What about doing Col Trautman and Sheriff Will Teasles medals? From First Blood 1982 film please
We've had Michael Corleone, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman and now Gunnery Sergeant Highway....how about Colonel Nathan Jessup, USMC?
Excellent choice, he's on the research list
I think his good conduct medal was rescinded.
I re-watched it last week. I couldn't believe the chest of medals he had. Kurtz would be a good one too.
I noticed that Highway wears his Medal of Honor ribbon on his uniform throughout the movie - but no one mentions it until three quarters of the way through the movie.
As I recall, he supposedly was in the Army when he won the MOH, and later joined the Marines.
I suppose that a medal like that does actually speak for itself. No need to talk about it.
@@miserablesnotling I disagree, it's a shortcoming in the script - which is full of problems. Not even Major Powers mentioned it when he read Highway's file. If he had said "Your status as a Medal of Honor winner does not give you any special authority under my command," it would have solved the problem. Heck, by 1983 there would have been maybe two or three MOH winners on active duty, so to see one arrive on base without any fanfare strikes me as unusual.
@@Norbrookc He would still wear his Army Medal of Honor as a Marine. Jack Lucas wore his naval MOH when he served in the Army in the 1950s and 60s.
@@KillerKane0 I know he would. What i mean was that in the movie, there was a line with him and the SGM talking about, and that they were in the Army at the time. It would mean that his 24 years in the Marines was not his entire service time.
Thank you. Good video
thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it
In the original script, Highway was in the Army, but when asked for support, the Army saw the original script and said "no way." Even with a MOH, the Army would've booted Highway due to his alcoholism and conduct. So the script was re-written, and presented to the Marine Corps.
Didn’t the movie explain that Highway and Choos were in the Army during Korea and then joined the Marines later?
Tha Marines also were not fond of the movie when they viewed it
@@georgecottell6616 Yep. I posted something akin to that somewhere above.
Highway's military career is complicated because the Army refused to participate after reviewing the script so Eastwood approached the Marine Corps which agreed to support it. However the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge was key to the plot which meant, as primarily a US Army battle, that Highway had to be a soldier and a Marine at different times in his life. Then the Corps saw a finished cut of the film and disowned the whole project due to language and inaccuracies.
The premise is possible but very rare. Most MOH recipients aren't able to serve anymore. There was one Marine MOH winner, Jacklyn Lucas, who later served in the Army.
@@KillerKane0I’d say that’s 60% accurate. It really comes down to the individual. The MoH is a ticket out of combat, but MoH recipients tend to have an enough pull to get back in theater, especially during WW2, Korea, and Vietnam. In modern military Sgt. Major Payne of Delta is a current example as a still active delta operator and MoH recipient
I see these movie characters and smile. My father was a career Marine . 30 years retired as a Master Gunner Sergeant ( the one with a 🍍). Veteran of WWII , Korea, Vietnam, and other conflicts. He never talked about what he did all those years he was gone. He was a quiet, patient man that feared no man. Full of surprises my father was a non-commissioned pilot, and spoke / understood Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean and some others. He surprised many people talking in their language here in the Midwest. So in short I’m not impressed by to many fictional characters.
My dad did 3 weeks Vietnamese language before shipping in 1970, he thought they were saying hello when they were really saying thank you. 😂
Defense Language Institute offered 1 month, 8 week and 47 week classes. 47 week classes produced a fluent speaker.
Thanks for sharing
Awesome video. I was unaware of the campaign in the D.R. May I recommend covering General Hummel from The Rock.
You should do Thomas Magnum from the original Magnum PI. I think you could see his medal rack in dress uniform in the finale.
I think he already did.
Somehow this is still fewer medals than Generals Petraeus and Miley, and both of them lost the wars they partook in.
@BetterThanLifeProd I retired from the Army with 22 yrs. I've been retired for 32 years. Highway must have not been infantry in the Army and in combat while in the Army. The Army Edwards the following adward for combat, CIB,CMB,and CAB. Marines don't award CIB's only Combat Action Badge. Interesting story. In 1971-1972 I was a Dustoff medic in Vietnam. I was not award the Combat Medical Badge. Dustoff medics were not authorized to get CMB. However in 1991 I served in Desert storm in an Armor unit (Tanks). The regulation was you had to be in infantry to receive a CMB. The regulation was changed and authorized award for CMB so I was awarded a CMB. Flight media's in Iraq and Afghanistan are now authorized to be awarded a CMB ,for the same job I did in Nam.
Many thanks
The map of Haiti and the DR at 5:30 was epic ....got distracted. Interstates in the DR and dirt roads in the other.
You must do Audie Murphy US Army, and Dan Daily, USMC
It is worth noting that Highway’s Bronze Star, Navy Commendation and Navy Achievement medals all have the “V” clasp indicating that these awards were awarded for valorous acts in combat. It is possible the subsequent Bronze Star awards were received without the “Combat V”, however, speaking from great experience, it is next to impossible for an Enlisted Marine to receive this medal in this way.
I'd like to know how many decorations would sgt.Saunders have had after fighting so many battles.
How did you come by that he'd been in the army in korea??? I can't remember that bit from the movie? I remember him mentioning korea,but not being in the army. I always thought it was Marines Army,Marines.
The movie was suppose to be about a US Army Ranger going back to 2nd Ranger Battalion, but they army say script and pulled support for the movie cause the arm was trying to change its imagine at that time.
So the way he was in an Army unit is talked about when the name of the movie is mention. Highway won his MOH at heart break ridge where he and chewzu were marines attached to the US Army 2nd Infantry division (which has happened before and is how 2ID was first formed as a joint army/marine unit).
Late in the movie, Sergeant Major Choozoo explains to Jones that they, along with Mary's husband who later died at Khe Sanh, had served in the 23rd Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea. The three of them had survived Heartbreak Ridge. They really should have explained better early in the film. When he introduces Highway to Major Powers, Choozoo mentions that Highway had served in "Korea, Dominican in 65, three tours in Nam." Powers was not impressed by this. If he had said "You may have won the Medal of Honor in Korea, but that does not give you any special consideration while you are under my command," it would have solved the script problem." While this is perhaps unnecessarily strict in order to generate the conflict between him and Highway, Powers was essentially correct. He even says later that Highway was one of his men. The script needed some fine tuning.
At the bar there was a picture and the master sgt explained to the guitar playing marine that he and Highway were at Heartbreak Ridge and that at the end of the battle all that were left was the commander and the master sergeant and Thomas Highway. He says the were young and in the army.
Thanks for sharing
I know Highway was a fictional character but that is the timeline that I was in Vietnam as a Marine!
Hopefully a few Marines can chime in about how easy and/or difficult receiving a Good Conduct Medal is. My time in the Army I saw a number of soldiers who had GCMs who shouldn't have had any. Even I have a couple extras.
In the Army, it's basically go three years without getting an Article 15 or a letter of reprimand, and you pick it up. I used to call it the "undetected crime medal." 😉
Every 3 years of Honorable and Faithful Service, Gunny Highway probably wouldn’t have gotten any based how the movie starts but most likely his commands let things slide due to the MOH
It's a "I didn't get caught" or " they didn't' do the paperwork" medal. I really shouldn't have one but do.
@@zwinmar21 "Sir, I have no idea of how we ended up with twice the tracer ammo we were supposed to have for night fire qualification. But you have to admit it looked really cool." (yeah, that happened)
@@Norbrookc Starwars man, starwars
This movie was suppose to be about an US Army Ranger going back to 2nd Ranger Battalion, and how there mission is Gernada went. But when the army read the script they pulled their support and funding, needing military support they contacted the marines and they were all about it. That is why some of the story line/scenes dont make sense. The calling for air support over the land line did actually happen but its was 82nd back to Fort Bragg.
The name of the movie is named after a battle the the US Army fought in Korea, so when they army pulled funding they figured they would just say that highway and chewie were attached to the 2nd Infantry Division. The 2ID was actually a joint division in the first World War. So that is why some of his medals just dont make sense.
The actual Ranger company commander who ordered the use of the telephone was John Abdzaid, later a general in Iraq.
As far as the Good Conduct Medal goes, you can have 1 Non-Judicial Punishment (NJP) per period. So he could have gotten in trouble once every 3 years. Also, in Highway’s time, Discipline and punishment were handed out in a different manner than it is today. Mainly paperwork was not the way it was handled unless it was a bad offense.
Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rab Junior from JAG would be an interesting one to do started out as a naval aviator and then became Member of the judge advocate general core as an attorney
JAG ended with Captain Harmon Rab.
This is one that I am actually interested in.
You missed a few:
2nd row up from the bottom, far right ribbon: Navy & Marine Corps Sea Service Deployment ribbon, with bronze star. Navy units that deploy at sea get one for each deployment, Gunny Highway has it because he's been on two deployments in a Marine Expeditionary Unit.
3rd Row up from bottom, far left ribbon: Meritorious Unit Commendation, with a bronze star for a 2nd award.
Vietnamese, like Russian and Czech (the two courses I took at DLI) is 47 weeks. To successfully complete the course you need to obtain a minimum proficiency of 2/2/2 on a scale of 1-5, however the maximum proficiency the testing measures is 3/3/3 and the third number is speaking, which is only tested at DLI.
Thanks for answering my question, interesting
The National Defense Service Medal is given to all that enlist during times of war. I was given one when I joined the US Navy in 1970 during the Viet Nam conflict. I did not serve in Viet Nam.
Awesome video, but at the end, I think you missed the Valor device for the Bronze star.
i would like to see a video of General Mark Naird from Space force
The recipient of the CMH, (Congressional Medal of Honor) is giving the respect of all personnel regardless of rank.
My theory is that Highway was a poster boy Marine until his wife left him. That's why he has the Good Conduct Medal.
There's a scene from We Were Soldiers were an Officer orders a platoon to form up in their dress uniform (or something to that effect) and one of the Sergeants comes back buck naked wearing the Medal of Honor. It's a great scene, probably too good to keep in the film for fear of throwing the storyline offtrack.
Not bad for a guy that never made it past Spec4 "Lifeguard" at the Monterey CA Army post. He served, and that cool with me but as he was drafted in 1951 I still wonder why he never ended up in Korea. Lucky man.
It can often be a simple twist of fate where someone is deployed. My father was a Marine and served for three of his four years in the Pacific. He participated in numerous campaigns including, Saipan and Guam. He stayed in the reserves and six years later was recalled and deployed to Korea. His brothers also served in both army and Marines. They were active duty during Korea and never deployed to Korea. They served in Germany for the duration of Korea. I have a cousin who enlisted in the Marines in 1968. He was sure he would go to Vietnam. It never happened. He did a sea duty tour and then became an embassy security guard.
I had a brother in law that served as a truck driver in Germany during the Vietnam war. Two weeks after he was discharged his unit was notified for duty in Vietnam.
Good work you should do "Peaky Blinder"
One thing to remember... Good Conduct medals are for 3 years... or for 1 year during time of war...
USMC/Navy is 4 years.
@@alberthaystowniiijd2821 That changed to 3 years for the Navy back int he 1990s.
Oliver Reed engaged in out drinking members of the Royal Navy in a bar (well trying to😉)
Hugely engaging channel, one of my favourites 👍🏴☠️
Yes I believe he died in Malta whist filming for Gladiator. The place it happened is called "The Pub" which is full of his and the Royal Navy's memorabilia. Glad you are enjoying the channel!
@ The Dit (story) is that the booze up did for him, I thought I should refrain from mentioning it unless it was wider knowledge as it clearly is… Keep up the good work
@@ClaspsofCourage reckon you can research COL Trautman and Sheriff Will Teasle medals please ? (From the 1982 film First Blood) thanks Andy
i was awarded 23 ribbons during my time in service.
(army) as a young specialist i had to ask my first sergeant how to show i was awarded some of them more than than 6 times. he was not amused, but showed me the manual.
Sgt. Reckless was a Korean War veteran. She was an horse who retired to Camp Pendleton.
I’m very impressed that movie makers go to such research to get this accurate - unfortunately it is annoying that they can’t do this with tanks or panzers!
Okay, here we go again. The MOH shown is the Army's MOH, the Navy and Marine version has an anchor clasp. The Airforce MOH has lightning bolts with the head of liberty on the front.
And it was explained in the video why the Army version was shown
Your pronunciation of Tae Guk is getting better!
The women magazines? Recon 101: Intel gathering.
How about a breakdown for LTC Frank Slade (Al Pacino, Scent of a Woman)?
thanks Garry, ah yes I'd forgotten about that movie. I will have to watch it again. I will add him to the to-do list!
@ClaspsofCourage you're most welcome! Keep up the good work 👍
The Vietnam service medal was extended to those in country, or the service area with combat experience and or military service thru 1975…
The medals in the thumbnail are set up like Navy medals. The stars on Marine medals are vertical. Navy is horizontal.
USMC GCM not the Navy’s, I will update when I find the info if we used to do them horizontal and when the change was made
@ USMC Stars vertical. USN horizontal.
@@dave-d-grunt I understand that, but I have googled MC GCMs (these were older) and they also had horizontal trying to find info about placement of the devices, things change over the years or decades
@ who know what’s out there. It is a good video. I only know from my time in the Marines in the mid 70’s
You should cover the recent 4 Australian and one New Zealand recipients of the Victoria Cross.
I do plan to look at real life gallantry awards next year. Aussie/NZs will definitely be covered. I really want to look into more detail on their experience during the Vietnam War.
Can you do Uncle Albert from Only Fools and Horses because his medals are supposed to be very correct too
Some of the medals on Gunnery Sergeant Highway are the same as those on Gunnery Sergeant Hartman.
Someone well below had mentioned that soldiers who served in one branch, could not receive awards from another branch-which he never served in. That's wrong. Check out marine: Littleton ("Tony") Waller-who ended up as a General. He was awarded this rare award: Specially Meritorious Service Medal
The letter of August 3, 1904, awarding this medal to Waller "in recognition of your gallant conduct in assisting in rescuing crews from the burning Spanish ships after the battle of Santiago de Cuba on July 3, 1898" is reproduced above. This is one of only 93 known awards of the decoration, given for "specially meritorious service, otherwise than in battle, during the Spanish-American War". It was not awarded before the war with Spain, nor since. Because it recognizes heroism not in direct contact with the enemy, it may be considered a forerunner to the present-day Navy and Marine Corps Medal. The decoration is a bronze cross Pattee, with an anchor in its center encircled by a wreath of oak and laurel and the inscription "U.S. Naval Campaign West Indies". The arms of the cross are inscribed "Specially Meritorious Service 1898", and it is suspended from a bright red ribbon.
Bureau of Navigation
Department of the Navy
Washington, D.C., August 3, 1904
LIEUTENANT COLONEL
Littleton W.T. Waller, U.S.M.C.
Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Norfolk, Va.
Sir:
The Bureau has much pleasure in transmitting herewith a specially meritorious medal
awarded to you in recognition of your gallant conduct in assisting in rescuing crews
from the burning Spanish ships after the battle of Santiago de Cuba on July 3, 1898.
This medal is issued in accordance with the provisions of an act of Congress, approved
March 3, 1901, which authorized the Secretary of the Navy to issue such medals to the
officers and men of the Navy and Marine Corps who rendered specially meritorious service,
otherwise than in battle, during the Spanish-American War.
Very respectfully,
G.A. Converse, Chief of Bureau
Waller's was one of only ninety-three known awards of this medal, and is believed to be the only one awarded to a U.S. Marine. Because it recognizes heroism not in direct combat, the Specially Meritorious Service Medal can be considered a predecessor of today's Navy and Marine Corps Medal.
He's the only Marine awarded that medal.
Should do John Wayne in the movie Green Berets that would be awesome👍🏼
Speaking of lots of medals, have you done Prince Phillip's? I know his Canadian Forces Decoration had the most bars of anyone so far
Prince Phillip received the 5th clasp to his CD in 2016. Others with 5 clasps were the Queen Mother and Air Commodore Leonard Birchall RCAF who was known as the "Saviour of Ceylon". Air Cdre Birchall passed away in 2006. Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II also received 5 clasps to the CD however she never wore them on the medal; based on the date that she first was appointed an honorary colonel of a Canadian regiment (1947), she would have been entitled to a 6th clasp.
The Good Conduct Medal is awarded for 4 years of a clean military record. Civilian mishaps do not matter unless the military is involved on active duty. Striking a fellow enlisted or officer while off duty does not matter. The movie never specified where Highway struck Power's officer friend. Also a reduction in rank breaks the cycle for the medal.
Two famous soldiers medals from the old British empire I suggest you analyse, first Harry Flash man, a renowned fighter of sorts and Sir Sidney Rough-Diamond,soldier turned diploma's I assume.
Seems to me he should have expert marksmanship award
He does, he has multiple years as expert as well as pistol.
I’m not sure how they did it prior to 2005, but while I was active duty, as long as you weren’t disciplined with paperwork you could still get a good conduct medal. That is to say, it’s possible for Gunny Highway to have never “officially” been punished for things…it was probably an oversight though lol.
As far as his conduct v Good Conduct Medal.. as much combat as he saw, those are basically handed out as "freebies" because of his deployments.
Perhaps in deference to the fact he was a MoH recipient that they did not act to withhold the Good Conduct medal.
I would guess maybe as well it would be bad PR to strip a war hero like him of a GCM?
@lancersharpe Good Conduct medals are normally awarded within the first 3-4 years of service.
The initial screen shot with all the medals displayed, shows a US Army MoH. Gunny Highway obviously rates the Naval Services MoH.
He received the MoH during his Army service so he'd wear the Army medal while a Marine. Again, it doesn't happen often - only once by my understanding, when a Marine MoH recipient served in the Army in the early 1960s.
The Purple Heart is senior to the Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal
At the time of the movies production the Purple Heart was the ranked just ahead of the Good Conduct Medal. On 13 Jun 83 The Purple Heart was place ahead of all Meritorious Service Medals.
I don’t know why but, I always envisioned Highway being at Khe San.
How about Bernard Lee as M ?
While in AIT at Fort Dix we had a high ranking g sergeant that spent at least two tours in Nam and had a limb guessing from being wounded but he would not talk about his time in Nam. We were his last class because he was retiring. He gave the clueles second LT grieve. After he told him " I spent more F*** ing time in chow line then you spent in the mother F*** ing Army we laughed out loud. Our captain was cool and gave him a long rope. This sergeant know that over halve of of class would be shipped to Nam and made us run & do PT and three ruff forced marches to get us in shape. Drank beer a couple nights a week & eat a lot of PX food in AIT but with all his wise training lost over 5 pounds.
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