Vietnam War veteran receives Purple Heart after 41-year wait; Ceremony honors more than 100 veterans

Terry Karkos/Sun Journal
During Saturday night's Veterans Recognition Ceremony in the Farmington Baptist Church, Maine Army National Guard Major General John W. "Bill" Libby, left, and Rep. Thomas Saviello, R-Wilton, congratulate Air Force Staff Sgt. Gerald C. Webber of New Vineyard after the two men presented Webber with the Purple Heart medal he never received, 41 years after he was wounded during a rocket attack on Saigon's Tan Son Nhat Airport in the Vietnam War.

- Terry Karkos

Terry Karkos/Sun Journal

Forty-one years after he was injured during the Vietnam War in a rocket attack on a Saigon airport, U.S. Air Force Sgt. Gerald C. Webber, right, asked Lt. Col. Mike Backus of the Maine Army National Guard to pin Webber's Purple Heart medal on his chest following Saturday night's Veterans Recognition Ceremony.

- Terry Karkos

Terry Karkos/Sun Journal

As military photographs are projected onto a screen behind them at Saturday night's Veterans Recognition Ceremony at the Farmington Baptist Church, more than 100 veterans pose for group photographs onstage.

- Terry Karkos

Terry Karkos/Sun Journal

Hilary Hinds of Wilton congratulates U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Gerald C. Webber of New Vineyard after Saturday night's Veterans Recognition Ceremony in the Farmington Baptist Church. Watching from left are Hilary's husband, Stanley B. Powell, and  Lt. Col. Mike Backus of the Maine Army National Guard.

- Terry Karkos

Terry Karkos/Sun Journal

While waiting for his wife to photograph him with Maine Army National Guard Maj. Gen. John W. "Bill" Libby, left, Air Force Staff Sgt. Gerald C. Webber of New Vineyard proudly displays the Purple Heart medal that Libby presented to him on Saturday night during the Veterans Recognition Ceremony in Farmington. Webber was wounded during a rocket attack in Vietnam, but didn't receive the medal until Saturday night.

- Terry Karkos

FARMINGTON — On Saturday night, 41 years after he was wounded in Vietnam, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Gerald C. Webber of New Vineyard received his Purple Heart medal.

Webber was one of more than 100 World War II, Korean and Vietnam veterans honored at the Veterans Recognition Ceremony through the State of Maine Gold and Silver Star Honorable Service Medal presentation at the Farmington Baptist Church.

Webber, who served from 1967-68 with the 903rd Air MedEvac, said he was wounded the day he was leaving Vietnam during a rocket attack on Saigon's Tan Son Nhat Airport.

"We were clearing out aboard the Freedom Bird, and we were changing our money into American green dollars and were lined up to go through customs when the rockets hit," Webber said after the ceremony.

After returning stateside and getting honorably discharged, Webber said he was told the Air Force had mailed his Purple Heart medal to him. But he never received it, his wife Arlene Webber said.

Then last year, during a veterans' dinner, Gerald Webber met state Rep. Thomas Saviello, R-Wilton.

Arlene said that's when Saviello learned her husband never received his Purple Heart.

"Tom worked very hard to get it," she said.

When Saviello introduced Webber to the crowd of more than 300 people of all ages, he said Webber had been wounded as he was leaving Vietnam and his paperwork became screwed up.

"Knowing that I'm a person who doesn't tolerate a lot of bureaucracy, I was able to get his orders and obtain a Purple Heart to award to him tonight," Saviello said to applause as Webber received the medal from Maine Army National Guard Maj. Gen. John W. "Bill" Libby.

"He deserved this recognition," Arlene Webber said, after hugging Saviello and thanking him. "I wanted this to happen. He's finally getting the recognition he deserves."

So, too, did more than 100 other veterans during the ceremony that remembered those who served their country and those serving today, and their families.

"We want to recognize the real heroes — our veterans; those that are here with us today and those who are not," Saviello said during the two-hour ceremony. "We also want to remember today's soldiers, what they did and what they're doing."

Many veterans received War Time Service Certificates honoring their service.

Maine Gold Star Honorable Service Medals were given to surviving family members of servicemen who died in a combat zone or while deployed.

Among these were Army private Robert L. DeRoche of West Farmington and Marine Sgt. Camille J. Doiron of Chisholm, both of whom died in 1945. DeRoche was killed in Europe; Doiron in Italy.

Family of Air Force Sgt. Larry S. Smith of Phillips, who died on June 24, 1973, were the first to be awarded Maine's new Bronze Star Honorable Service Medal, which recognizes a family's loss.

A handful of men, including Army Cpls. Philip DeSoto of Livermore Falls and Robert E. Henry of Anson, who were prisoners of war during World War II in Germany, were awarded the Maine Silver Star Honorable Service Medal.

More than 24 veterans were Purple Heart recipients, among whom were Army Sgt. Brian L. Palmer of Dixfield and Army SP4 Donald W. Ulmer Jr. of Canton, who both served in Vietnam.

After the ceremony, Saviello had every veteran join him on the church stage for group photos.

"This is outstanding and long overdue," Hillary Hinds of Wilton said.

Her father, Air Force Lt. Col. Aurelius S. Hinds II, was recognized earlier for service to his country during World War II.

"I'm very glad that we now have a way to honor our veterans," she said. "It's also wonderful to have someone like Tom and Gen. Libby, who will honor those we didn't get to say ‘thank you' to."

tkarkos@sunjournal.com