If you live on Long Island, you’ve read about it, and if you don’t, you may have read about it. In either case: it merits mention once again here on DelBloggolo.
There was a young man in the Green Beret who was killed in Afghanistan, while on duty in a helicopter. No, he wasn’t killed by a goat loving rag head, but in a helicopter crash during a drug interdiction mission. The Army denies Keith Bishop a medal, because his death is not battle related. It is a very cut and dried policy the Army has.
The torment that Keith’s mom and family have can’t be described by this blogger. But a man, another hero from a past war, a brother so to speak has stepped forward and given up HIS Purple Heart to the Bishop family. The medal was enclosed in the casket of Keith Bishop on November 9th.
The hero I mention is named: Bruce Brenner. Bruce Brenner was a Viet Nam veteran, who was wounded near the Cambodian border in 1970. Mr. Brenner decided that it was too much for Keith Bishop’s mother to be denied the Purple Heart, especially in the circumstances prevailing.
Bruce Brenner is a hero once again. He is the commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1469, in Huntington, NY. What he did was the Army’s job, what he did was our job as an American people, for our sons and daughters. Mr. Brenner gave up something out of duty to a fellow soldier, duty to his country, and recognition of a brother in arms. This man is an example of what we send out to war, as is Keith Bishop.
Today, December 21, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy is awarding Bruce Brenner a medal, and is urging the Army to reconsider its policy regarding Keith Bishop.
“It was a pleasure for me to do it. It was a gift from one soldier to another.” Those words are Bruce Brenner’s.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY POLISH BROTHER-IN-LAW, JOHN!
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