Pa. soldiers now fight for medals won in Iraq

Five months after returning home from Iraq, many Pennsylvania National Guard soldiers are upset at still not having received the medals they earned in combat.

The military blames the delay - and in some cases denials - on bureaucratic snags and says it is working to redress the problem.

"To a lot of people, it's just a little piece of tin," said Sgt. First Class Anthony Kelly of Drexel Hill, who is among dozens of soldiers awaiting the Combat Infantry Badge. "But to an infantryman, it has meaning. It's one of the last things in life that hasn't been watered down. There's only one way to get it - to be in a direct-fire engagement with the enemy. "

Guard officials say they are sorting out the exact number of medals that have been delayed. But they conceded yesterday that at least 384 recommendations for medals - including 22 Purple Hearts for combat wounds - initially were lost. The paperwork was recovered only because a sergeant way down in the Army bureaucracy had kept scanned copies on CDs and on his laptop computer.

In addition, soldiers are also upset about several cases in which medals have been denied for what, to them, seem mystifying reasons. In some cases, these decisions are also being reviewed and may be reversed.

The soldiers were members of Task Force Dragoon, which set out for Iraq around Thanksgiving 2004 and came home in groups from mid- to late-October. Based near Beiji, 110 miles north of Baghdad, the task force included about 750 members of the Pennsylvania Army Guard, most from the Philadelphia region.

Sgt. Neill Coulbourn of Phoenixville, who was wounded but hasn't received a Purple Heart, said he was reluctant to complain because so many soldiers had been hurt more severely than he was. Seven members of his unit were killed in combat.

Coulbourn, a member of Alpha Company of the 1st Battalion of the 111th Infantry, was hit in the right forearm by a piece of shrapnel on June 9 when a suicide bomber driving a small white car packed with explosives rammed a column of U.S. vehicles.

Kelly, who was Coulbourn's platoon sergeant, wrapped the wound. He later helped put in the recommendation for the Purple Heart, which initially was denied.

Said Coulbourn: "I want what everyone wants - what's due to them. It shouldn't have to take forever. "

Capt. Anthony Callum, commander of Alpha Company, based in Northeast Philadelphia, said yesterday he was confident that Coulbourn and several other soldiers who were denied Purple Hearts in the tangle of red tape will get their medals.

"They'll be approved, there's no question," Callum said.

The once-lost paperwork for some of the missing medals includes 117 recommendations for the Combat Action Badge, 86 for the Combat Medical Badge, 64 for the Combat Infantry Badge, 58 for the Bronze Star Medal and 37 for the Army Commendation Medal.

"There is no running away from the fact that 384 awards were lost. . . . We know that is not good," said Lt. Col. Chris Cleaver, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Guard at Fort Indiantown Gap.

He said the records appear to have been misplaced sometime after they were passed up the chain of command from Task Force Dragoon, either at the headquarters of the 1st Brigade Combat Team (Third Infantry Division) or the headquarters of the 42d Infantry Division (New York National Guard. )

Some soldiers said Task Force Dragoon itself was slow in processing paperwork and may have contributed to the problem in awarding the medals, which appears broader than just the 384 recommendations that were lost.

Callum said: "I think these soldiers should have received before they left country. The battalion commander should have ensured that they received them, and he didn't."

The battalion commander was Lt. Col. Philip J. Logan, who has received a Purple Heart for a serious wound he suffered in an insurgent bomb blast that appeared to be an attempt to assassinate him.

"There was no insidious plot. . . . I'm responsible for anything that happened in the unit," Logan said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Fort Lewis in Washington state.

He said a massive amount of paperwork - "while we were trying to fight a war" - had overburdened the system, bottom to top.

Criteria for the granting of some awards also changed while the troops were in Iraq, he said, making medal decisions murkier.

Logan said he had hoped that most medals could be given before troops left.

"But we just weren't able to make it happen," he said. "It has been fairly painful, I will admit. It has taken more time than I expected. . . . If I could magically fix it, I would. "

An official at the Army personnel office in the Pentagon said yesterday he was not aware of widespread problems with soldiers getting medals.

"I have not heard of any complaints of this type," said Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty. "It's up to the commanders to make sure it happens. "

Pennsylvania Guard leaders are working with New York Guard officials to get the medals straightened out. They offered no timetable, but they said they hoped it would happen soon.

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Contact staff writer Tom Infield at 610-313-8205 or tinfield@phillynews.com.

Military Medals

Pennsylvania National Guard soldiers are waiting for these medals:

Purple Heart, awarded for being wounded in action.

Combat Infantry Badge, awarded to a soldier in an infantry unit who has been under hostile fire in ground combat.

Combat Action Badge, a new award given to a soldier in another type of combat unit who has experienced hostile action.

Combat Medical Badge, awarded to a medic who has served under direct fire.

Bronze Star Medal, awarded for heroic or meritorious achievement or service.

Army Commendation Medal, awarded for heroism, meritorious achievement or meritorious service.