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VIETNAM VETERAN FINALLY GETS HIS PURPLE HEART
--
James Hogue was enjoying an outdoor barbecue
"drinking
beers and telling lies" on his last scheduled
evening
in Vietnam, when an explosion knocked
him against a Quonset hut.
Story here...
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/
255/story/65506.html
Story below:
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VIEWPOINT
After long wait, Bellingham man gets Purple
Heart
DEAN KAHN
On June 23, 1971, James Hogue was enjoying an outdoor barbecue --
"drinking beers and telling lies" on his last scheduled evening in
Vietnam -- when an explosion knocked him against a Quonset hut.
"I can remember my chest burning," Hogue recalled.
Dazed, he felt his chest, studied his bloody hand, then passed out.
He awoke four days later in a military hospital with a hole in his chest
the size of a quarter, a punctured lung, and a piece of shrapnel from a
grenade lodged near the base of his heart � where it remains to this
day.
Hogue, who now lives in Bellingham, was fortunate. He survived the blast
and restarted his career in the Air Force three months later.
Nearly 36 years later, he was lucky to find himself surrounded by family
members when the military remedied a bureaucratic oversight and awarded
him a Purple Heart.
Now 70, Hogue grew tall on a farm in eastern Ohio. At age 17 he joined
the Marine Reserves for two years, then enlisted with the Air Force,
where he troubleshot electronic equipment on bombers, cargo planes and
other aircraft. He spent five of his 20 years in the Air Force in
Southeast Asia, and altogether put his feet down in 74 countries.
"I had a wonderful career in the military," he said.
Hours before his eventful barbecue, Hogue had packed his gear and his
military papers for his flight out the next morning. He'd been assigned
to an Air Force base south of Miami. Instead, he found himself
recuperating in a hospital near San Antonio.
While there, his orders were changed. New assignment: Luke Air Force
Base, west of Phoenix.
His updated medical records eventually followed him to Luke, but no one
there noticed that he hadn't received a Purple Heart for his injury.
When Hogue retired from the Air Force as a technical sergeant in 1976,
he returned to Ohio and built a second career working for a rural water
system, until two strokes convinced him it was time to slow down. He
sold the family farm in 1997 and moved with his wife, Centia, to Florida
to enjoy the warm weather and to be near their daughter, Carmen, her
husband, Carl Roberge, and their three children -- Ryan, now 18; Carly,
15; and Andre, 12.
A few years later, the Roberges moved to White Rock, B.C., and then to
Bellingham. The Hogues followed, settling here in 2001.
The next year, Hogue underwent two open-heart surgeries and had other
medical problems. In time, his doctors decided it would be helpful to
have copies of Hogue's military medical records.
Hogue requested his records, sending letters to Texas, Indianapolis,
Cleveland and Tampa, then paying a visit to the VA office in Seattle
before he got his paperwork. He was reviewing the stack of papers in
February 2006 when it dawned on him � he had never received his Purple
Heart.
He sent a new letter to the Air Force. Ten months later, he received a
phone call from an official at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas, asking
when he'd be able to receive his medal.
Such awards aren't delivered through the mail. Arrangements were made,
and Hogue, his wife, and the Roberges drove to McChord Air Force Base
near Tacoma on April 20, where two-dozen officials met them for a
30-minute ceremony that morning. Hogue managed a short speech.
"I teared up too much," he said.
Afterward, they were treated to a private tour of a C-17, an Air Force
cargo plane.
"The grandkids ate that up," Hogue said.
Hogue paused when asked why he pursued his Purple Heart after more than
three decades.
"I guess it was the recognition," he replied. "Maybe just the
challenge."
Dean Kahn's column runs on Sundays and Mondays. If you have a suggestion
for a column, contact him at
dean.kahn@bellinghamherald.com
or 715-2291.
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Larry Scott --
