re: #215 sillyquiet

My dad enlisted in 61. Spent a lot of time in Vietnam (a silver star and two bronze stars on his service ribbon, not sure how much time that translates to). After the war, he became a linguist, learning Russian, and earned both dolphins and wings. Spent much time listening to Soviet radio broadcasts. He also helped worked on translating russian documents related to various SAM missiles, which work he was always proud to claim helped the Israelis win against the Soviet-supplied Arabs in the 70’s conflicts. He died last month after Christmas. I could brag about him all day.

I can provide a bit of information on the stars for Navy and Marines on the Vietnam Service ribbon, even though I was a “doggie”, ours were about the same. 17 were authorized for the Navy and Marine Corps as follows.

3 Silver and 2 Bronze Stars

1. Vietnam Advisory Campaign (15 March 1962- 7 March 1965)
2. Vietnam Defense Campaign (8 March-24 December 1965)
3. Vietnamese Counteroffensive (25 December 1965- 30 June 1966)
4. Vietnamese Counteroffensive (1 July 1966-31 May 1967) Phase II
5. Vietnamese Counteroffensive (1 June 1967-29 January 1968) Phase III
6. Tet Counteroffensive (30 January-l April 1968)
7. Vietnamese Counteroffensive (2 April-30 June 1968) Phase IV
8. Vietnamese Counteroffensive (1 July-l November 1968) Phase V
9. Vietnamese Counteroffensive (2 November 1968- 22 February 1969) Phase VI
10. Tet 69/Counteroffensive (23 February-8 June 1969)
11. Vietnam Summer-Fall 1969 (9 June-31 October 1969)
12. Vietnam Winter-Spring 1970 (1 November 1969-30 April 1970)
13. Sanctuary Counteroffensive (1 May-30 June 1970)
14. Vietnamese Counteroffensive (l July 1970-30 June1971) Phase VII
15. Consolidation I (1 Jul 1971 - 30 Nov 1971)
16. Consolidation II (1 Dec 1971 - 29 Mar 1972)
17. Vietnam Ceasefire Campaign (30 Mar 1972 - 28 Jan 1973)

Naval Historical Center