Scott Fontaine covers Fort Lewis, McChord Air Force Base, the Washington National Guard and the veteran community. Fontaine has worked at The News Tribune since 2006. E-mail along story suggestions and tips to scott.fontaine@thenewstribune.com
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Matt Misterek is the communities and military team leader at The News Tribune and has supervised local military coverage since 2003.
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The war is long over. His leg has healed. But a former Marine received a long overdue honor Thursday.
Richard Beard, who fought in the Vietnam War in 1965-66, received a Purple Heart for shrapnel injuries he received almost 45 years ago during an emotional ceremony at the Marine Home Site Training Center at Fort Lewis.
His wife, Rozellen, and several members of Beard’s platoon were in attendance, including Gary Shreve, the corpsman who treated him on a hillside just south of Danang.
“I can’t explain what this means,” said Beard, a 62-year-old Bellevue resident. “It’s been so long, but it’s such a huge part of my life that will never go away.”
Beard received his injuries on Sept. 11, 1965, when he was a private first class tasked with operating mortar cannons. He and other members of 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment were tasked with setting a command center on a hillside. The helicopters unloaded them in the wrong area – in the middle of a minefield.
The battalion commander and a nearby radioman stepped on a mine and died just minutes after they landed.
“It was the most difficult night of my life,” Shreve said. “It was just a horrendous day.”
There was no band. No speeches. The members of the Marine Corps Reserve unit based at Fort Lewis stepped off the bus and walked directly into the arms of their family members.
For Sgt. Arsenio Diga, that meant no wait in holding his 4-month old daughter, Jaynah, for the first time.
Diga and about 45 other Marines of the headquarters and service company of the 4th Landing Support Battalion, 4th Marine Logistics Group returned home after a seven-month deployment Thursday.
“It’s a bit overwhelming right now,” said Diga, a 25-year-old Renton native.
Marines from a Washington reserve unit are returning from a seven-month deployment to Iraq tomorrow. Friends and family will welcome them at a ceremony at the Marine Home Site Training Center at Fort Lewis.
The 45 Marines, all from Western Washington, serve with the Headquarters and Service Company of the 4th Landing Support Battalion, 4th Marine Logistics Group. They deployed to Anbar Province in April and worked as a provisional security company.
