I think it would be hard to give one member of the crew a decoration without including the other members of the crew. The ones I received included the other members of the crew. I don't know what was the way they decided who should be put in for something or not.

I received a decoration from a SOG that included my gunner. Of course I didn't receive it until 4 years after I was out of the army. It didn't include what the pilots received that day. I would imagine theirs was on a completely different set of orders. I had heard that if an enlisted man received a medal the officers received the same or a higher one. To me the whole system seems to have been a little screwed up. I know that several guys did some pretty unreal things and nothing was written up and some other things got the royal treatment.

The bottom line is that I guess knowing we did our jobs and there are guys who made it out because of what we did is what makes it worth while. Being a hero was never our job to begin with. I would not feel right to be singled out for something and not have the rest of my crew included. I know that while I was doing one thing they were doing another that would complete our mission. I know Pat's crew was doing the same thing as Pat. Working to get themselves out of that mess. You have to admit it they had one hell of a day.

Maybe the system was wrong. Maybe the career soldiers used it for their own gains. I know what I did and what the guys in our company did. That is the one thing that nobody can take away from us. We showed up and did our jobs.