Our Precious Gift

I am looking for the help of a congress person for the state of Illinois or anyone else that can possibly fill the request below.  As sons and daughters we always try to fill the wishes of our parents and this woman needs some help in doing that.  Time passes so fast and before you know it years are gone.  If anyone reading this can help please contact me as soon as possible.  We need to do everything we can to help this hero get his presentation award back.  If we take time out of our busy lives I am sure someone can make this happen.  Please read below and if you can help let me know and I will put you in touch with the person that needs you.

To Whom It May Concern:

My father is a decorated veteran of the Korean War. I am currently faced with a challenge…  On April 21,1967 we lost everything that we owned in a tornado in Oak Lawn, IL. We were buried alive in the basement until we could be dug out. We had the cloths on our back and our lives to be grateful for.  After months of going thru debris to salvage what little of our family past could be found, my dad was able to recover his Army Uniform and his box of service awards.  We didn’t know this until we were adults and my step-mom had the medals framed and displayed in our home.

 My Dad never really spoke of the war, but often described how beautiful the “presentation award” that accompanied the medal that he was awarded in the hospital. He has always wished that the award could be replaced because it was one of the many items of personal significance that was destroyed by Mother Nature.  My initial inquiry to the Pentagon revealed that the records were lost in a fire in the 70’s….  I do not know where to go next to try and obtain a replacement of the Purple Heart presentation document.

 My Dad will be 80 in June of this year and I would love to be able to give him this document that was lost long ago.

I do have partial discharge papers from the Army Core of engineers, tattered maps of assignment locations, probably 50 black and white photos from the war, originally they were slides (these were recovered from the debris and restored by an unknown photographer). My Dads uniform is in a box, but was mostly destroyed by fiberglass.

I know it has been a long time since I made a post on the site but I am hoping that will change in the very near future.  We have had some major changes going on which includes relocating from Florida to California.  My goal is to focus more time on the site in the next coming months but I wanted to alert you about an email I received. Please read below and if this comes to you delete quickly.  This is obviously a scam and it makes me so upset that the world still has people like this in it.  If this is not a scam then I hope to hear from the Marine that sent this to me however I assure you I will not be hearing from this person any time soon.

to date Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 1:09 AM subject Personal

hide details 1:09 AM (14 hours ago)

Reply

Dear Friend,

With a very desperate need for assistance, I have summed up courage to contact you.
I am presently in Iraq with the US marine platoon. I found your contact particulars in an Address journal.
I am seeking your assistance to evacuate the sum of $2.7m USD (Two Million Seven hundred Thousand United
States Dollars) to you, as far as I can be assured that it will be safe in your care until I complete my service here.
This is no stolen money, and there are no dangers involved.

SOURCE OF MONEY:

Some money in various currencies was discovered concealed in barrels with piles of weapons and ammunition
at a location near one of Saddam’s old palaces during a rescue operation, and it was agreed by all party present that
the money be shared among us, this was quite an illegal thing to do, but I tell you what? No compensation can make
up for the risks we have taken with our lives in this hell hole. The above figure was given to me as my share,
and to conceal this kind of money became a problem for me, so with the help of a German contact working here,
and his office enjoys some immunity, I was able to get the package out to a safe location entirely out of trouble spot.

He does not know the real contents of the package,and believes that it belongs to an Asian American who died in an air raid,
and before giving up, trusted me to hand over the package to his family.There is a secured way of getting the package
out to a safer country for you to pick up, and i will discuss this with you when I am sure that you are willing to assist me.
One passionate appeal I will make to you is not to discuss this matter with a third party, should you have reasons to
reject this offer. please destroy this mail as any leakage of this information will be too bad for us.

I do not know for how long we will remain here but hopefully before the year runs out or next according to our new
president Senator Barrack Obama, I have survived 2 suicide bomb attacks by the special grace of God,thisand other
reasons I will mention later has prompted me to reach out for help.
Please you can reach me on my personal e-mail address below for more informations.

The elderly parking lot attendant wasn’t in a good mood!

Neither was Sam Bierstock. It was around 1 a.m., and Bierstock, a Delray Beach, Fla. , eye doctor, business consultant, corporate speaker and musician, was bone tired after appearing at an event.He pulled up in his car, and the parking attendant began to speak. “I took two bullets for this country and look what I’m doing,” he said bitterly.

Last name: BANKS
First name: RICHARD ANTHONY
Home of Record (official): CLEVELAND
State (official): OH
Date of Birth: Friday, May 7, 1948
Sex: Male
Race: Negro
Marital Status: Single

— Military —

Branch: Army
Rank: PFC
Serial Number: 67018496
Component: Selective Service
Pay grade: E3
MOS (Military Occupational Specialty code): 11D10
11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
F Troop 2nd Squadron

— Action —

Start of Tour: Saturday, March 30, 1968
Date of Casualty: Tuesday, July 16, 1968
Age at time of loss: 20
Casualty type: (A1) Hostile, died
Reason: Multiple fragmentation wounds (Ground casualty)
Country: South Vietnam
Province: Binh Duong
The Wall: Panel 52W - Row 038

Last name: EMBREY
First name: DAVID NORMAN
Home of Record (official): ROCKFISH
State (official): VA
Date of Birth: Wednesday, August 29, 1945
Sex: Male
Race: Caucasian
Marital Status: Single

— Military —

Branch: Army
Rank: SGT
Serial Number: 52939954
Component: Selective Service
Pay grade: E5
MOS (Military Occupational Specialty code): 11D40
11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
F Troop 2nd Squadron

— Action —

Start of Tour: Friday, December 8, 1967
Date of Casualty: Thursday, August 22, 1968
Age at time of loss: 22
Casualty type: (A1) Hostile, died
Reason: Gun, small arms fire (Ground casualty)
Country: South Vietnam
Province: Binh Long
The Wall: Panel 47W - Row 027

Check out the new page we have added to the site on the sidebar. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor contacted us and asked if we would not mind putting up a link to them. I spoke to the director and she is very nice and wants to get the word out so we are going to do all we can to help her out.

I have posted a link to the booklet that list all of the federal benefits for veterans and their dependents.  Thanks, Sarg for getting this booklet to me.  Take a moment to look it over, you can find the link for it on the sidebar.

I received an email on Saturday from the director of The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor she said she found our site when she was doing some research for the Hall of Honor.  She likes the site and wants to talk to me about the work we are doing.  I will keep you posted on this and let you know what comes out of it.

Lcpl Eric Shick, Al Haqlaniyah — August 3rd 2007, Shot by A Sniper Through the Right Shoulder, USMC  Thank you Eric for sharing with us.