“HE ALWAYS FELT “SCREWED OVER.”

3 min readFeb 12, 2016

“HE ALWAYS FELT “SCREWED OVER.”

Attached are photos I have of my father, Frank Blazich from his time in Vietnam.

The photo of him in uniform in a front yard was taken in July 1966. He was wounded in action on 25 June 1966 and medevaced back to the U.S. to the Naval Hospital St. Albans in New York. The other photo was taken roughly a month after being wounded (as I recall from Dad’s description) in the front yard of his mother’s house in Smithtown, Long Island. The ribbons he is wearing he borrowed from a friend, notably because Dad never received an Air Medal despite participating in around 50 air assaults. He always felt “screwed over” (in his words) for not receiving one despite having to go out on patrol every other day for four months. He was annoyed by this until the year he died.

The other photo is dated to the day he was formally awarded his Purple Heart at the hospital in St. Albans. This photo he had stored in his papers and was found for the first time by the family in December 2013 after his passing.

The “Dad Combat” photo was one he found in American Legion magazine. He recognized several of the faces in the photo and participated in this action. He always believed that the third helmet from the far left (to the side) was of him. The reason for this being that he was always right by the machine gunner (as the ammo bearer/assistant gunner). I’d love to track down the photos where this picture is located to see what else might be there.

Dad found the letter after clearing out his mother’s house following her death in 2010. He shared the letter with me. I think it sums things up nicely about his time in Vietnam.

~Frank Blazich, Jr.

We are very grateful to Frank, Jr. for sharing his father’s story and honoring his service with Comes A Soldier’s Whisper where we are all connected. We invite you to share your family member’s service pictures and a brief story to be shared on our timeline for all to honor.

Written by A Soldier's Whisper