Man receives Silver Star after nearly 40-year wait
FAIRBANKS - A Fairbanks man will be awarded a Silver Star for his wartime service.
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But that service was 40 years ago, in the Vietnam War.
Then 22-year-old Andrew Wescott, stationed at Fort Wainwright, was sent to Vietnam in 1968.
The day Wescott was injured and earned the Silver Star was his last day in Vietnam.
On Oct. 23, 1968, Wescott and his unit were sent to the demilitarized zone to assess the effects of recent bombings. But the Viet Cong had set an ambush for them inside the clearing.
The platoon leader was the first to enter the clearing; he was shot by small arms fire and died within moments.
Wescott said he isn't sure how long he lived after being hit, but he remembered seeing his commander pull a crucifix from inside his shirt and hold it while he died.
Wescott plunged in to recover his commanding officer's body.
He was wearing a flak jacket, but enemy fire still penetrated his right side. When asked what kept him going in the middle of a war zone after already being hit by enemy fire, Wescott laughs.
"Adrenaline," he said. "A fire fight and adrenaline are better than drugs any day."
Wescott took cover in a large crater with other members of his unit.
He was lying there when a piece of shrapnel hit him in the chest, and he knew they couldn't stay there.
He could see one Viet Cong soldier nearby who would shoot at their position then duck into a hole, and he decided to draw his fire. He made it into a group of bamboo trees when he was hit again.
As he heard the shots being fired at him, Wescott lifted his hands over his head to protect himself. Bullets ripped through his left hand, leaving his ring and pinkie fingers "dangling on a string."
More bullets hit his legs, knocking him to the ground. As a medic came to his aide, the enemy continued its barrage, blowing off one of the medic's shoulders.
A lieutenant patched up the medic and brought Wescott two pints of blood thickener, and credits this man - whom he only knows as Lt. Brown - with saving his life.
Though his Silver Star citation states Wescott was instrumental in turning the tide of the battle that day, he remains modest.
"I'm not a hero. I was just doing my job," he said. "If I didn't do what I did, more people would have been killed."
After his discharge, Wescott decided to stay in Fairbanks.
Over the years, he has started a variety of business, including the El Dorado Gold Mine and a laundry service. For a brief period, he even had a fish farm in his garage.
It wasn't until he was diagnosed last year with prostate cancer that he and wife, Pam, discovered the Silver Star certificate.
"It's great, but this should have happened 39 years ago, so I have mixed feelings about it," she said.
The Wescotts aren't sure exactly how Andrew's Silver Star got delayed for nearly four decades. The explanation they received from the Army was that it probably wasn't stapled to his other discharge forms and got lost in the shuffle of paperwork.