DD214 question re: my FIL

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Yesterday my wife took out a copy of her dad's DD214 to ask me to decipher it and look up his awards. He passed in 2002 ( cancer/Agent Orange related) and she also has his ribbon board from his dress uniform so I was looking at that and the DD214 to hash it all out.
Recalling conversations with her, her mom and her dad, he also served in Korea. Looking at his DD214, it doesn't mention it but does list all of his awards/medals, some of which are Korea service related.
I thought all periods he served were supposed to be listed on his latest/last record.

Specifically, in the remarks section it says " I 22c RVN 1 Sep70-2 Jul72 INDOCHINA YES KOREA NO"
It also lists other stuff like his blood type & civilian education level.
While Korea service isn't listed there, the decorations section lists these:
Bronze Star Medal
Good Conduct Medal (2 awards)
Army of Occupation
National Defense Service Medal w/Oak Leaf Cluster
Korea Service Medal
Vietnam Service Medal
United Nations Service Medal Korea
Vietnam Campaign Medal
and not on the DD214 he also has one of these, authorized in 2002-
Republic of Korea War Service Medal Ribbon
Maybe not really relevant to the question, but he also has a CIB listed.

Online look up of some of those specifically mention service during a NATO campaign was required to get them; and the 2 Korea Service medals seem to bear out his service during that time as well- so why no mention on the DD214?
I'll post a snap or two of the relevant sections from my phone.


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DD214's have all kinds of errors on them. The metals tell a story, the rest tell the other story. If you can find his 2A file it might help also. On the CIB, is it awarded or 2nd award?
 
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JBoyette said:
DD214's have all kinds of errors on them. The metals tell a story, the rest tell the other story. If you can find his 2A file it might help also. On the CIB, is it awarded or 2nd award?
Click to expand...
Not sure about the awarded re CIB. We don't have the actual medals themselves or any other paperwork- yet.
Her mom recently tossed a bunch of pictures he took while in London. So my wife is on a bit of a secret mission to try and make sure she can find and preserve things related to her dad, not only for herself but her brother& sister, our children & grandchildren. MIL is just getting older & forgetful so since we're the closest still living in the area, wifey has taken this on.
He was the epitome of the vet who never spoke about his service or the things done- just a humble, quiet guy.

Sent from my LG-H820 using Tapatalk
 
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Honestly a DD214 is only good for 2 things. To determine if someone served and if it was honorable. Other than that, it's not a reliable source of awards, deployments, etc. My DD214 is mostly blank because I never bothered to report or verify anything with my S1 at any unit. (They're all lazy anyway) All I was worried about was that when I got out, it said honorable.

Other than that I didn't care. Most folks do. I didn't. Had too much going on to care. Plus my S1 would've F'd it up anyway.
 
My DD-214 had more missing than it did filled in. It was pathetic. Of course that's not surprising since, at the time, Commodore Preble was not known for his administrative control of the fleet. ;)
 
That DD 214 is incomplete...it indicates it is specific to a period of service of only 2 years, 11 months...did he have a break in service?

It lists "other service" as 18 years, 8 months...there may be another DD 214. Looks like this one was made specifically for the two year period that made hime eligible for retirement.

It also lists him as a 91B...a medic...that MOS is not eligible for a CIB under any condition, but rather a combat medic badge. Was he Infantry prior to that, during the Korean War? Hence the issue with a possible missing 214 accounting for the "other service" period.

The clerk that typed this may have just tried to merge awards from previous 214 into this one.

Use the archives link previously posted, or get with your local VFW or Legion...they have folks that can dig into this as well.
 
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As I recall, he did have a break in service in between Korea & Vietnam.
I should've seen that total time in service.

Sent from my LG-H820 using Tapatalk
 
The other couple times where a correct DD214 is needed is when you need to verify service for benefits and produce documentation for awards. A third time could be if you're called into question regarding stolen valor (seeking impermissible benefits).

Mine is missing a bunch, too.
 
Since we're having this fest, mine is missing a lot more than it contains. But, the modern service is a lot better than we were. Computers do make it easier on the clerks to add stuff ( or mess stuff up). LH was right on the money above, VFWs have folks who live for this kind of challenge. Give it to them and stand back !!
 
He would have received a D214 for each period of service. The last should capture all awards/decs from the entire service period, but the paper is only as good as the people charged with documenting it.

Veterans come to us all the time as say i was in Vietnam, or SWA, but their DD214 doesn't bear it out.

Time to file a DD149 and seek a correction...
 
Slightly off track, but these things make it difficult to verify for a) employment/bennies, or b) throw the BS/stolen valor flag. I get not having an award or two (esp 'local level' stuff), but not schools or 'I was there' medals. If you were in SEA/VN, your DD214 will reflect it.
 
I have had to use my DD214 on a few occasions. The only thing that really needed to be accurate was the "honorable" as my discharge status (for my CHP)
 
Chuckman said:
Slightly off track, but these things make it difficult to verify for a) employment/bennies, or b) throw the BS/stolen valor flag. I get not having an award or two (esp 'local level' stuff), but not schools or 'I was there' medals. If you were in SEA/VN, your DD214 will reflect it.
Click to expand...

Not always, navy and air force were horrible about documenting VN service. A VSM is typically all that will be on their DD214, and I'll need to dig into their service records for foreign service info to prove they were there.
 
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