Medals Page 3

DO YOU HAVE YOUR MEDALS?

Check your DD-214 Form for those Decorations that you have earned. Did you receive them? What about an Good Conduct Medal, or some other Decoration that you were supposed to received but it is not mentioned on your DD-214 Form? You are also entitled to a Cold War Recognition Certificate.

When you returned home from Vietnam, you didn't receive your Decorations, but the DD-214 Form is accurate. Here's what you do! First, locate your DD-214 Form, then call or go to the Veterans Administration and request a SF-180 form. It is important that you use an SF-180 Form; with this form you can request other information including your Medical Records. You may also be able to acquire this form from your Town or Village Veterans Center or most Veterans Groups Chapters will have them. Remember you don't have to be a member. They will help! You can download it from the web but be careful that you are not downloading and out of date form.

Award actions pertaining to Army retirees and veterans are normally handled by the National Personnel Records Center in St.Louis, MO; also known as NPRC. In order for NPRC to research a specific award action, the request must be submitted to them in writing. The request should include a copy of the former soldier's separation or discharge document and any other documents DD-214 that support the request. Unfortunately, due to the large volume of correspondence that NPRC receives, the requestor should allow a reasonable period of time for NPRC to research and respond to the request. (7 months or more see note) NPRC's address is: National Personnel Records Center, Attention: Army Reference Branch, 9700 Page Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63132-5100. IF you have had a claimed for disability in prior to this request! Your Medical records will no longer be in ST. Louis. You or your Doctor will have to make another request (SF-180) for your Medical Records to the Veterans Administration. It is well know that the Veterans Administration is very careless with these records. So be prepared to wait several months for your records.

Almost all Vietnam Veterans should have been awarded a Good Conduct Medal. Others were written up for other Decorations but the paper work didn't go thru. What do you do when your DD-214 doesn't have your Decoration listed? Well you don't give up! Many times as People rotated back to the States or to other Units. The person taking over their duties did not follow up on the paper work for the Awarding of a Decoration especially if the one receiving the Decoration had rotated back to the States. If you have all the paper work send your SF-180 form and your DD-214 form to the address listed above and expect a very long wait for a ruling on you request. Instead I would suggest that you call your Congress Person or US. Senator and present a written report on which Decorations you were to receive. Make sure you give the Names and Ranks of all those involved both those who recommended you for the Award and those who knew of your Decorations, Of Course, and the circumstances, which led to receiving the Award. I believe this is the only way to accomplish this mission. Don't forget get in contact with a Veterans Group.
NOTE from NPRC: Recently, the Department of the Army and the National Archives and Records Administration entered into an agreement, which gives the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) authority to verify entitlement to replacement awards, and decorations for discharged, retired or deceased Army veterans. This was previously the responsibility of the Army Reserve Personnel Command (AR-PERSCOM). Army medals requests submitted within the last two years are currently in the process of being transferred from AR-PERSCOM to NPRC. The transfer of this work will take a number of months to complete. Once the transfer has been completed, requests pertaining to these specific Army medals will be answered as quickly as possible.AR-PERSCOM estimates a backlog of 98,000 routine requests for Army medals, going back two years; and at least 4,300 Congressional requests for Army awards and decorations, which may also be up to two years old. We understand the desire to obtain the medals as quickly as possible; however, multiple requests for the same awards will further complicate the process. Once the transfer is complete, we will begin responding to both the backlog of requests and all new inquiries in an expeditious manner. If you are now requesting medals, or you previously wrote to NPRC or AR-PERSCOM requesting medals, we ask that you do not write again. If you wish to submit a medals request for the first time, please do so after March 1, 1999. We appreciate your patience in this matter.

Morning Reports and Unit Rosters
Morning reports and unit rosters are created by military organizations as part of their personnel and payroll functions. These records are used by the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) to verify events or assignments, which may not be documented in an individual's Official Military Personnel File (OMPF). This is especially important when trying to reconstruct service information when the OMPF has been damaged or destroyed in the fire at NPRC in 1973. (The fire did not destroyed any Vietnam Veterans Records) A brief explanation of both types of records and the date span of our collections is listed below.

To apply for morning reports, and rosters over the internet:http://www.nara.gov/regional/ mprmrr.html

MORNING REPORTS are created each morning, as the name implies. They are an "exception based" system, only containing information on those individuals who are not "Present and Accounted for". Among the reasons for being listed on a morning report are:

Promotion or demotion
Being killed, wounded or missing in action
Being assigned to a unit, or leaving a unit
Going to a hospital for treatment, or to another activity for training

In order to verify that a particular action occurred, we must be provided with the exact unit of assignment ("Company A, 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment"), a description of the action ("I was wounded and sent to a hospital") and an approximate date ("June, 1944"). Without this type of information, we may be unable to perform a search.

Our collection of morning reports covers the following:
ARMY-November 1, 1912 to 1974
Air Force-September 1947 to June 30, 1966

UNIT ROSTERS are created monthly, quarterly or semiannually. During certain time periods, separate rosters were created for officers and enlisted personnel. At other times, consolidated rosters listed both officers and enlisted personnel. Some units created rosters only for enlisted personnel. The rosters typically list the members of a particular unit for the last day of the month in which the roster was created.

NPRC stores unit rosters for the Army only, for the same years as the morning reports, 1912 to 1974. (This includes rosters of units of the Army Air Forces prior to September 1947; however, no Air Force unit rosters are available after that date.) Unfortunately, the rosters for the years 1944, 1945 and 1946 were destroyed in the 1970's; no other source for this type of information for these years exists at this center. You may wish to contact an "Alumni Organization" in order to obtain information concerning members of specific units.

NOTE: neither morning reports or unit rosters contain historical information concerning battles or engagements. Records that contain this type of information may be available at one of the following:

U.S. Army Center of Military History 103 3rd Avenue Fort Lesley J. McNair, DC 20319-5058

U.S. Air Force Historical Research Agency 600 Chenault Circle Maxwell AFB, AL 36112-6424

National Archives and Records Administration Modern Military Records - NWCTM 8601 Adelphi Road College Park, MD 20740-6001

SUBMITTING REQUESTS FOR MORNING REPORTS OR ROSTERS: Requests must be in writing and sent to the following address:

National Personnel Records Center
Military Personnel Records
9700 Page Avenue St. Louis, MO 63132-5100

You may use a Standard Form 180, Request Pertaining to Military Records, or, write a letter to the center. Specify the information needed and the purpose of the request. In order to conduct a search of morning reports and unit rosters we need as much of the following information as possible: units or outfits; complete organizational designation (company or battery, battalion, and regiment; squadron, group, and wing, etc.); geographical location (camp, base, and country). Searching morning reports and rosters can be quite time consuming. Please limit your request to a specific event or personnel action. We are not staffed or budgeted to perform searches of organizational records for research or reunion purposes as our main responsibility is to respond to requests from or on behalf of veterans who are seeking benefits due them under various veterans laws.

SEARCH FEES: Depending on the number of searches required there may be a fee assessed. If that is the case, payment is required before the searches are undertaken. Fees are assessed for our time spent locating the records (at the rate of $13.25 per hour) and for any copies that are made (first 6 pages, $3.50; each additional page, $0.10), with a minimum charge of $8.30. A deposit of $8.30 is required before we begin the search. You will be billed for any additional costs. All remittances should be made payable to the National Personnel Records Center.

REVIEW OF RECORDS BY YOURSELF OR A DESIGNATED REPRESENTATIVE: It is also possible for our staff to make the records available to you or your designated representative for review of the morning reports/rosters at our Center. If that is not possible, you may wish to contact the history department of one of the local universities for graduate students who may be available to conduct this research. Telephone numbers are listed below:

Lindenwood University -- 314-916-7413
Maryville University of St. Louis -- 314-529-9454

Cold War Recognition Certificate

Who is eligible?
All members of the armed forces and federal government civilian personnel who faithfully served the United States during the Cold War era, Sept. 2, 1945 to Dec. 26, 1991. Individuals requesting a certificate will certify that their character of service was honorable.

Acceptable documents for proof of service. Any official government or military document with recipient's name, Social Security Number/Military Service Number/Foreign Service Number and date of service is acceptable. (DD-214)

Mail or Fax your letter with proof of eligibility to:
CDR, PERSCOM
COLD WAR RECOGNITION, HOFFMAN II
ATT.: TAPC-CWRS, 3N45
200 STOVALL STREET ALEXANDRIA, VA 22332-0473

FAX: 1-800-723-9262

E-mail Address: http://coldwar.army.mil/

SAMPLE LETTER

John Doe
P.O. Box 000
Pleasantville, Virginia 00000

April 5, 1999

CDR, PERSCOM
COLD WAR RECOGNITION, HOFFMAN II
ATTN: TAPC-CWRS, 3N45
200 STOVALL STREET
ALEXANDRIA, VA 22332-0473

Please send me a Cold War Recognition Certificate for my service to the United States government during the authorized period of September 2, 1945 to December 26, 1991.

Enclosed is a copy of source document (DD-214) with my Social Security Number and Military Service Number, which verifies my service during the Cold War Era. I understand that the enclosed copy of source document will not be returned.

Please mail my Cold War Recognition Certificate to the following address:

John Doe
P.O. Box 000
Pleasantville, Virginia 00000

Submission of this request confirms my faithful service to the nation during the Cold War Era. My service was in the Armed Forces; I further certify that my discharge was honorable (or general under honorable conditions).

Sincerely, John Doe

NARA

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