The Vietnam Service Medal
Created by Executive Order 11213, July 8, 1965. It is awarded to all service members of the Armed Forces who between July 4, 1965 and March 28, 1973, served in the following areas of Southeast Asia: In Vietnam and the contiguous waters and airspace; in Thailand, Laos or Cambodia or the airspace thereover or in the direct support of military operations in Vietnam.
There were 17 different campaign periods, but the first, which was called the Vietnam Advisory Campaign, covered the period from March 15, 1962 to March 7, 1964. During this time there were never more than a few thousand U.S. troops involved in Vietnam.
The previous information is copied from the site of the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph AFB, TX.
http://www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/awardsAsp/Medal.asp?abbr=VSM
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The Eligibility Period Was Cut Off Too Soon!
It is my contention, and that of a number of veterans assigned to Southeast Asia well after 28 March 1973, that the eligibility period for earning the Vietnam Service Medal should extend beyond that date. After American combat forces were withdrawn from South Vietnam by 28 March 1973 in accordance with the Paris Peace Accords of 17 January 1973, American combat forces remained deployed in Thailand. American servicemen and women were still dying in combat in Southeast Asia in May 1975.
Part of the problem is that the medal should more appropriately been named the Southeast Asia Service Medal, as extensive American combat forces were in significant combat in and over Laos and/or Cambodia from the early 1960s through the attempted recovery of the SS Mayaguez crew in Cambodian waters in May 1975. We have no interest in renaming the medal but believe the close out date should more accurately reflect the closing of the period when American combat forces remained deployed in Southeast Asia as a result of the Vietnam War.
The accompanying section on Comparable Medals takes a look at similar service/campaign medals from World War II, Korea, and Southwest Asia. None of them close out so near to the official cessation of hostilities between American and enemy forces as the VSM's closeout 60 days after official cessation in North and South Vietnam.
The closest is the Euro-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, which closed out eligibility on 8 November 1945, six months after VE Day (8 May 1945). The Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal closed out on 2 March 1946, approximately six and a half months after VJ Day (15 August 1945). The period of eligibility for the World War II Victory Medal runs through 31 December 1946, or more than sixteen months after VJ Day.
It should be noted that in both cases, our World War II enemies of Germany and Japan had been totally defeated and occupied. They were in no position to continue fighting as the North Vietnamese did throughout Southeast Asia after 27 January 1973 in spite of the Accords.
The armistice for the Korean War was signed on 27 July 1953. Eligibility for the Korean Service Medal and the United Nations Service Medal extended for a year to 27 July 1954.
Beginning on 2 August 1990, eligibility for the Southwest Asia Service Medal covers the period of the buildup in Desert Shield-- when no direct hostilities between the U.S. and Iraq existed-- through 30 November 1995, approximately 57 months after the US declared a unilateral ceasefire on 28 February 1991.
The closeout date of eligibility for the Vietnam Service Medal seems to have been set to match the Accords' requirement for removal of American forces from South Vietnam. Many of the men and women who remained with our combat forces in Southeast Asia had already earned the VSM by 28 March 1973. However, as personnel rotated in and out, based on the one-year tour, those who arrived after 28 March 1973 to continue in the same jobs were not eligible. Our contention is that eligibility should continue while combat forces remained deployed in Southeast Asia, which I'm told could be as late as 30 June 1976. Such a date certainly isn't out of line in comparison to the Desert Storm eligibility periods. So our contention is that service during that extended period should be eligible for the VSM in it's own right.
Another even more convincing argument that the 28 March 1973 date is the wrong closeout date is the fact that American service personnel continued to die in Southeast Asia in the months and years following that date. I'm currently trying to compile a listing of those killed after 28 March 1973. This is a bit of a task as many of the deaths listed in 1973-1975 are for those missing in earlier years but finally declared dead. Looking at World War II and Korea, I'm not aware of any major battles fought after word got out to cease hostilities. I know of none that would compare to the fight on Koh Tang Island in May 1975, which cost the lives of a Navy corpsman and seventeen other USAF helicopter crewmen and US Marines. The attempt to recover the crew of the SS Mayaguez also cost the lives of twenty-three more USAF personnel en route from Nakhon Phanom, Thailand during the buildup of forces.
We hope to convince DoD personnel to change the closeout date for the VSM to a more appropriate date.