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Gen. Daniel Hokanson, left, chief of the National Guard Bureau, presents retired Army Capt. Larry Liss with a Silver Star citation during a ceremony March 5, 2024, at Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pa.

Episode 2770 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Army Capt. Larry Liss and why is Distinguished Flying Cross was upgraded to a Silver Star. The featured story comes from The U.S. Army website and was titled: National Guard chief presents Silver Star to Vietnam veteran. It was submitted by Brad Rhen of the Joint Force Headquarters, Pennsylvania National Guard.

Rhen in his story, reported that Nearly 57 years after rescuing more than 80 U.S. and South Vietnamese soldiers during the Vietnam War, retired Army Capt. Larry Liss received the Silver Star medal.

Liss originally received a Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions. But thanks to the persistence of his brother, Art Liss, and several members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation, that medal was upgraded to a Silver Star.

At a March 5 ceremony at Valley Forge Military Academy, Liss said he was accepting the award for every helicopter pilot who has ever flown a combat mission.

“I don’t think anybody realizes what it means to be a helicopter pilot in combat,” he said. “I’ve been on the ground. I know what it’s like on the ground, but at least on the ground, I could hide. You can’t hide in a helicopter, and these guys and women flying these helicopters, I just know nobody knows, they don’t realize, you’re exposed.”

Liss received the award for his actions on May 4, 1967. That afternoon, Liss and his copilot, Tom Baca, flew a chaplain to Cau Song Be outside Tay Ninh City. While there, they learned that North Vietnamese soldiers were poised to overrun a nearby U.S. special operations outpost with roughly 100 South Vietnamese soldiers and a small group of Green Berets.

Listen to episode 2770 and discover more about Army Capt. Larry Liss and why is Distinguished Flying Cross was upgraded to a Silver Star.

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President Donald J. Trump places the Medal of Honor around the neck of retired Army Capt. Gary M. Rose during a ceremony at the White House, Oct. 23, 2017. DoD photo by C. Todd Lopez

Episode 2769 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Army MACV-SOG Capt. Gary Michael Rose and his Congressional Medal of Honor award. The featured story comes from The U.S. Department of Defense website and was titled: Medal of Honor Awarded to Army Captain for Actions in Laos. It was submitted by C. Todd Lopez, a writer for the Army News Service

Lopez, in his story, reported that more than 50 years after his heroic actions in Laos during the Vietnam War, Army Capt. Gary Michael Rose was recognized with the Medal of Honor.

On October 23, 2017, in a White House ceremony, President Donald J. Trump presented the Congressional Medal of Honor to retired Army Capt. Gary M. Rose.

President Trump said this at the event: “This will enshrine him into the history of our nation,” said President Donald J. Trump, during the Medal of Honor ceremony yesterday at the White House.

Rose served as a combat medic during the Vietnam War with the Military Assistance Command Studies and Observations Group, part of Army Special Forces. He was recognized for his actions between Sept. 11-14, 1970, in Laos. The mission he was part of, “Operation Tailwind,” had for many years been classified.

Following the Medal of Honor ceremony, Rose said he believed the medal he received was not only for him, but for all those who served — especially those who had fought in combat but who had not been able to be recognized due to the classified nature of their operations.

Rose said this about the award “This award, which I consider a collective medal, is for all of the men, to include the Air Force and the Marines who helped us.  This is our medal. We all earned it.”

Listen to episode 2769 and discover more about Army MACV-SOG Capt. Gary Michael Rose and his Congressional Medal of Honor award honors.

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1st Lt Russell A. Steindam and PFC Jose Santa Cruz.

Episode 2768 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature an interview with Colin Kimball who will tell about his passion for honoring our fallen heroes. In the interview he will describe in detail a method he uses to create updated and honorable images of our fallen military heroes.

Kimball tells about the Medal of Honor recipient, 1^st Lt Russell A. Steindam who hails from Plano, Texas that inspired him to take on the project of honoring our fallen military heroes. He also tells the story of PFC Jose Santa Cruz. They both served with B Troop 3^rd Squadron 4^th Cavalry, 25^th Infantry Division.

Russell Albert Steindam (August 27, 1946 – February 1, 1970) was a United States Army officer and a recipient of the United States military’s highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in the Vietnam War. Russell grew up in Plano, where his family moved when he was five years old. He graduated at the top of his class from Plano High School before entering the University of Texas.The Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, Texas is named after Lieutenant Steindam.

Jose Santa Cruz was born in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico in 1949. He moved to Glendale at a young age and went on to graduate from Glendale High School in 1968. He joined the US Army two months later.

As they attempted to make a surprise attack, PFC Santa Cruz spotted an enemy grenade as it landed near his platoon leader. PFC Santa Cruz instinctly threw himself between the grenade and his platoon leader and took the blunt force of the grenade blast. He died instantly of his wounds as he saved the life of his platoon leader. For his actions, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross

Listen to episode 2768 and discover more about Colin Kimball and his passion for honoring our fallen heroes.

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C-123 Applying Agent Orange in Vietnam,

Episode 2767 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about the proposed expanded Agent Orange care by the VA. The featured story appeared in the Military Officer Magazine and was titled: VA Aims to Expand Agent Orange Care. It was submitted by Cory Titus, MOAA director of Government Relations for servicemember compensation and veteran benefits.

The VA has issued a proposed new rule that would significantly broaden the locations and time periods for which veterans are presumed exposed to Agent Orange and other herbicides.

This year, the VA is looking at expanded health care access to a wider group of veterans not previously recognized as exposed to Agent Orange and other toxic hazards.

If the proposed rule is finalized the VA will add a presumption of herbicide exposure for veterans who served in certain areas of the U.S., Canada and India, in addition to existing presumptive locations in Vietnam and surrounding territories and other parts of Asia.

The VA Secretary Denis McDonough said this about the development: “This proposed change would make it easier for veterans exposed to herbicides who served outside Vietnam to access the benefits they so rightly deserve.”

Veterans who served at one of the newly covered herbicide locations should file a disability claim if diagnosed with any of the associated conditions.

The Agent Orange Exposure conditions include the following:

• AL Amyloidosis
• Bladder Cancer
• Chronic B-cell Leukemias
• Chloracne (or similar acneform disease)
• Diabetes Mellitus Type 2
• Hodgkin’s Disease
• Hypothyroidism
• Ischemic Heart Disease
• Multiple Myeloma
• Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
• Parkinson’s Disease
• Peripheral Neuropathy, Early-Onset
• Porphyria Cutanea Tarda
• Prostate Cancer
• Respiratory Cancers (includes lung cancer)
• Soft Tissue Sarcomas (other than osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposi’s sarcoma, or mesothelioma)

For more information about the proposed expanded Agent Orange coverage to this site: www.va.gov/pact

Listen to episode 2767 and discover more about the proposed expanded Agent Orange care by the VA.

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Connie Dugan Popel shows her scrapbook of pictures from her year in Vietnam in 1969-1970 as a member of the Donut Dollies with the American Red Cross.

Episode 2766 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Donut Dollie Connie Dugan Popel and her service to our country.  The featured story appeared on the U.S. Department of Defense website and was titled ‘Donut Dollie’ Brought Smiles to Troops in Vietnam. It was submitted by Skip Vaughn, editor of the Redstone Rocket.

Connie Dugan Popel was a recreation aide for the American Red Cross for a year-long tour. Of the 1,200 women who worked for the American Red Cross in Vietnam throughout the Vietnam War, 627 were part of the Supplemental Recreational Activities Overseas Program — better known as the “Donut Dollies” — who were there from 1965-72.

Popel was a college senior in Ohio majoring in sociology when she saw a recruitment poster for Donut Dollies on a bulletin board. “No. 1, the big thing was I didn’t know what to do after college. Then, I saw the poster and I thought, ‘This sounds fascinating,'” she said. “Plus I love to travel. And I was used to family game nights at home.”

A recreation background was not required, just a college degree. The military wanted a group of young women to go to Vietnam to develop troop morale programs at the request of Gen. William Westmoreland, the then-commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam.

“I think my role [as a Donut Dollie] was to be myself,” Popel said, “I’m known for my smile and I smiled and smiled and smiled. And I think that I represented maybe an American girl who cared, who hoped that I brought some kind of happiness for a second in a horrible, horrible war.”

“It was the best year of my life,” she said. “I was very naive. But I grew up, like we all did.

Listen to episode 2766 and discover more about Donut Dollie Connie Dugan Popel and her service to our country.

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Dennis Franz in Vietnam in 1968. ,

Episode 2765 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Dennis Franz, the Vietnam Vet who became a popular TV star and a well known spokesman for veterans. The featured story appeared on the U.S. Department of Defense website and was titledFrom Battle to Hit Shows: This Actor Served in the Vietnam War . It was submitted by David Vergun.

Actor Dennis Franz is best known for portraying a TV detective and starring in numerous blockbuster films in the 1970s through the 1990s.

Less known, is that Franz was a soldier who served in combat during the height of the Vietnam War. Franz was born in Maywood, Illinois, on Oct. 28, 1944.

His parents were German immigrants. Franz’s mother, Eleanor, was of Jewish descent and was a postal worker. His father, Franz Ferdinand Schlachta, was a postal worker as well as a baker. Schlachta was of German and Polish descent.

Actor Dennis Franz at a rehearsal for the 1994 Emmy Awards in Los Angeles.

During Franz’s high school years, he participated in baseball, football and swimming. He attended Wilbur Wright College and Southern Illinois University Carbondale, graduating from the latter in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in speech and theater.

In 1968, he was drafted into the Army and served 11 months with two divisions in South Vietnam: the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne Division.

When Franz learned he was being sent to Vietnam, he said he had mixed feelings. He said he was curious about military life, but he was also scared of being killed or injured in the Vietnam War.

Franz said combat was a traumatic, life-changing experience, particularly losing close friends. He recalled being in multiple firefights and sometimes not knowing where the bullets were coming from.

Franz said “Having gone through it, having lived through it, it changed my outlook on life.” He added that he would “not trade his wartime experience for anything.”

Listen to episode 2765 and discover more about Dennis Franz, the Vietnam Vet who became a popular TV star and a well known spokesman for veterans.

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John Reitzell in Vietman

Episode 2764 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about John Reitzell and his inspiring story of service to his country in war and peace. The featured story appeared on the U.S. Department of Defense website. It was submitted by Skip Vaughn.

John Reitzell went to Vietnam in the spring of 1970 as a 23-year-old second lieutenant in the Army infantry. The year-long experience was as challenging as one would expect.

“It was not very pleasant. There’s nothing worse on Earth than a nasty gunfight, and I was in multiple combat close-quarter battles,” the now-retired colonel said.

He was a rifle platoon commander in the 3rd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, in the central highlands, the mountain jungles. He spent the last eight months of his tour as an operations officer for N Company, a long-range reconnaissance patrol company, with the 75th Rangers, 173rd Airborne Brigade.

Besides the Purple Heart, Reitzell has three Legions of Merit, five Bronze Stars (two with “V” for valor), the Joint Meritorious Service Medal, five Army Service Medals, five Air Medals and the Joint Service Commendation Medal. During his tour, he spent three weeks in the hospital recuperating from his wounds before returning to the field. He came home in the summer of 1971.

He said he was treated “shabbily” when he returned to the United States. He didn’t get spat on, but he did get called “baby killer” by a female protester at the Seattle airport. Reitzell received a welcome reception when he got home to Monroe, Louisiana.

The son of a World War II veteran, Reitzell graduated from Northeast Louisiana State College, now called Louisiana-Monroe, in 1969 with a bachelor’s in pre-med with a specialty in chemistry. He was commissioned through the Army ROTC. He became a master parachutist in 1972

Listen to episode 2764 and discover more about John Reitzell and his inspiring story of service to his country in war and peace.

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Capt. Stephen A. Rusch holding his daughter, Sharon Rusch. He was an F-4E Phantom pilot during the Vietnam War, who was shot down in southern Laos and considered missing in action. His remains were identified in 2007 and laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery, Va.

Episode 2763 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about the inspiring story of Sharon Rusch, the daughter of a Vietnam War MIA. The featured story comes from The U.S. Air Force website and was titled: Echoes of Vietnam: An Air Force family legacy. It was submitted By Bryce Baswell, Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

Sharon Rusch was three days from her sixth birthday when a knock came at the door. She says she does not remember the Air Force officers from casualty affairs speaking with her mother. She does, however, remember the birthday card, the last message she would ever receive from her father.

Stephen A. Rusch enlisted in the Air Force and later commissioned as an Air Force weapons systems officer flying with an F-4E Phantom squadron during the Vietnam War. On the morning of March 7, 1972, his two-ship formation was flying a classified mission over the jungles of southern Laos when it was cleared to engage enemy trucks on the ground. On the second pass, the flight lead lost sight of his aircraft.

Three days of aerial searches by the Air Force yielded nothing, and Rusch’s status was changed to missing in action. Finding out the details of what happened to her father and coming to terms with it has been a lifelong journey for Sharon and her family.

Maj. Gen. Sharon Bannister, daughter of Air Force MIA Stephen A. Rusch

Sharon Rusch is now Maj. Gen. Sharon Bannister, a two-star general officer, mother of two and wife to a retired Army colonel. She currently serves as the director of medical operations in the Office of the Surgeon General in the Pentagon, close enough to walk to Arlington National Cemetery and just across the Potomac River from “The Wall” at the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial, where she frequently volunteers. On March 29, she accompanied Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall to The Wall to conduct a commemorative paper rubbing of the engraving of her father’s name, as well as other names.

Listen to episode 2763 and discover more about the inspiring story of Sharon Rusch, the daughter of a Vietnam War MIA.

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Army 1st Lt. Loren Hagen poses for a photo in Vietnam shortly before his final mission on Aug. 7, 1971, when he died in action saving members of his team. Hagen posthumously received the Medal of Honor.

The Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, Studies and Observations Group was activated, Jan. 24, 1964, to function as a joint special operations task force in Vietnam. The 5th Special Forces Group was the largest source of volunteers for the unit.

Episode 2762 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Army Capt. Loren D. Hagen and his Congressional Medal of Honor award. The featured story comes from The U.S. Department of Defense website and was titled: Medal of Honor Monday: Army Capt. Loren D. Hagen. It was submitted by Katie Lange, the outstanding writer for DOD News.

Lange, in her story, reported that Army Capt. Loren Douglas Hagen joined the Green Berets during the Vietnam War so he could find a childhood friend who’d never returned from deployment. Hagen didn’t come home, either, but the extraordinary heroism he displayed while leading his men during a harrowing mission earned him a posthumous Medal of Honor.

Lange added this about Hagen, he was born on Feb. 25, 1946, to Loren and Eunice Hagen, and went by his middle name, Doug. For much of his childhood, he and his two younger brothers lived in Moorhead, Minnesota, on the border with Fargo, North Dakota, until their parents moved them to Decatur, Illinois. There, Hagen excelled at MacArthur High School, where he was an honor student and the president of the student council his senior year. He was also an Eagle Scout.

After high school, Hagen moved back to the Fargo area to attend North Dakota State University. He earned an engineering degree in 1968 before enlisting in the Army when the Vietnam War was still escalating.

Hagen was commissioned as an officer before training to join the Special Forces. He eventually served in the same unit Boyer had been in, according to a 2016 Decatur Herald and Review article. They were both part of the Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observations Group, which often conducted dangerous, classified missions in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Listen to episode 2762 and discover more about Army Capt. Loren D. Hagen and his Congressional Medal of Honor award honors.

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Army Sgt. Peter C. Lemon, Medal of Honor recipient.

Episode 2761 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Army Sgt. Peter C. Lemon and his Congressional Medal of Honor award. The featured story comes from The U.S. Department of Defense website and was titled: Medal of Honor Monday: Army Sgt. Peter C. Lemon. It was submitted by Katie Lange, the outstanding writer for DOD News.

Lange, in her story, reported that Army Sgt. Peter Charles Lemon was injured several times during a lopsided attack in Vietnam, but he took out several enemy soldiers and refused to quit fighting until he lost consciousness. His courage to defend his base and his fellow soldiers earned him the Medal of Honor.

Lange added this about Lemon, he was born on June 5, 1950, in Toronto, to Charles and Geraldine Lemon. He has a sister, Judy, and a brother, Richard.

The family immigrated to the U.S. when Lemon was 2 and set up their new lives in Tawas City, Michigan. About a decade later, he became a naturalized citizen.

Lemon graduated from Tawas Area High School in 1968 and started working in a factory in nearby Saginaw, according to a 1971 article in the Escanaba Daily Press of Escanaba, Michigan. By then, however, the Vietnam War was raging, so Lemon enlisted in the Army in February 1969.

After basic training, Lemon received advanced infantry training. He was sent to Vietnam in late July 1969, where he went to Recondo School, which teaches select troops about long-range reconnaissance techniques and small-unit tactics. The training earned him the coveted title of Army Ranger.

By the spring of 1970, then-Spc. 4 Lemon was serving as an assistant machine gunner at Fire Support Base Illingworth, with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division.

Listen to episode 2761 and discover more about Army Sgt. Peter C. Lemon and his Congressional Medal of Honor award honors.