Veteran War – George Thomas Keeney, a 76-year-old Vietnam War veteran, was supposed to receive the Air Medal from the United States Army on November 6, 1966, but the medal never arrived.
On Monday—57 years later—Keeney, now confined to his bed, finally received the award in the living room of his home in New Windsor, where he is under hospice care due to heart failure and prostate cancer.
“This will make my day,” he said, surrounded by his children and grandchildren. “If I die tomorrow, I will be happy.”
Despite being sick and bedridden, Keeney was extremely excited and happy to receive the medal that he never thought he would receive.
“I feel great,” he said. “I never expected this. When I came home from there, for the first six months, I kept saying, ‘I got nothing.’ I did what I was told to do, and they made these promises, and then they spit in my face.”
Keeney, like many Vietnam veterans returning from the war, did not receive a hero’s welcome but was sometimes mistreated or scorned by society for fighting in an unpopular war.
Keeney was finally honored for his service on Monday.
To pay tribute to Keeney, Jason R. Sidock, the executive director of the Carroll County Veterans Independence Project, a nonprofit organization that provides services to veterans, was present, as well as State Senator Justin Ready, who represents Carroll and Frederick counties, County Commissioner Tom Gordon III, and representatives from BridgingLife, a nonprofit organization that provides hospice care.
Sidock presented Keeney with a “Welcome Vietnam Veteran” coin as a token of appreciation for his service. Sidock acknowledged that BridgingLife had informed his organization that Keeney had never received the long-overdue Air Medal.
The Air Medal is a military award of the United States Armed Forces, established by executive order and signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on May 11, 1942. It is awarded for single acts of heroism or extraordinary achievements while participating in aerial flight.
Ready pinned the medal to Keeney’s smiling chest, who said he was happy to finally receive it.
“It’s been too long,” said Ready, emphasizing that all Vietnam veterans deserve the medals they are entitled to. “I want to thank you for your service. You were recruited, and you did your job.”
It is unclear why Keeney never received his Air Medal, considering that top military officials had signed the certificate certifying the award on November 6, 1966.
“On order of the President, this Air Medal is awarded to Private First Class E3 George E. Keeney, United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious achievement while participating in sustained aerial flight in support of ground combat forces of the Republic of Vietnam during the period 29 July 1966 to 9 August 1966,” the certificate read.
The certificate also commended Keeney for over 25 aerial missions over “enemy territory” in support of counterinsurgency operations.
Gordon, representing District 3, also presented Keeney with a special coin.
“Thank you is not enough,” Gordon said. “Thank you from all of us. This is from Carroll County. Thank you, sir.”
Belinda Eaton, Keeney’s daughter, described the event as “touching.” She said her father was “surprised” to learn that the Air Medal had finally arrived.
Keeney served in the Army for six years and was deployed to Vietnam in 1966, where he served for two years. He also served with the US Army Aviation Battalion. Keen
ey held the rank of Army Sergeant E5 when he was discharged.
He and his family attribute his battles with cancer and heart failure to his time as a helicopter crew chief, dispersing the chemical compound Agent Orange over Vietnam’s fields and forests.
From 1962 to 1971, the US Air Force sprayed nearly 19 million gallons of herbicides in Vietnam, with at least 11 million gallons being Agent Orange, according to the National Library of Medicine website. Agent Orange is a toxic chemical herbicide used by the US military to clear vegetation during the Vietnam conflict.
“I sprayed Agent Orange, and unless you’ve seen it yourself, you don’t know how strong it is,” Keeney said.