![]() ![]() “War cares not what a soldier’s is,” Aurilio said, referring to the military’s code for specific jobs. The battalion was awarded 24 Purple Hearts during the three-year infantry mission known as Operation Stabilize, 13 of them posthumously. “You never knew what was going to happen and when,” he said. ![]() “We walked around during the day trying to get someone to shoot at us so we could shoot back at them.”ĭean Wetzler, 80, described his two years of serving in Vietnam as a constant state of unease. ![]() “We didn’t drive around in jeeps and direct traffic as people think,” said Donnie Thomas, a former staff sergeant. The 720th Military Police Battalion, under the 18th Military Police Brigade, were assigned ground soldier duties and given a flotilla of patrol boats to guard against infiltration and rocket attacks. The Bushwhackers served in South Vietnam and were tasked with protecting a sprawling American logistics base called Long Binh Post, a frequent target for enemy sappers. Latta deemed it a “step in the right direction” in winning recognition for an estimated 600 military police members who were deployed by the Army to “perform duties outside what they signed up for.” Unit members instead were offered Bronze Stars, a decoration for meritorious service in a combat zone that Aurilio said the military police “never considered or thought we earned.” The former Bushwhackers wanted to receive the Army’s Combat Action Badge or Combat Infantry Badge but both requests were denied. In 2021, he contacted the Defense Department and the Army, which began extensive searches at multiple personnel records facilities to find documentation of the military police's infantry actions. The 55-year oversight ended due to a mailing blitz several years ago by a group of former military policemen from the unit, who sent out 55 letters to congressional representatives in 25 states asking for assistance in obtaining recognition. “This will help bring our members and families a sense of identity and closure and out of the shadows of obscurity.” ![]() “Today marks a milestone when our history at last meets official recognition of who we were and what we did, to officially set the record straight for our posterity and how we should be remembered,” said Steven Aurilio, a former specialist in B Company. ![]()
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