BERNING RECEIVES BRONZE MEDAL
It was standing room only at 2233 Nuttman Avenue, at the U.S. Army Reserve Center. Brigadier General Mike Beasley was on hand to present the Bronze Star, posthumously to the widow of U.S. Army Sgt. Michael Berning, a Vietnam War Veteran.
Berning was a radio operator who was awarded the Bronze Star for calling in target locations after spotting enemy forces moving into position around his unit. Although Berning earned the award, he never received it. In 2000, Berning found he had cancer of the larynx. His wife Sharlotte retired from her job to spend all of her time with him.
Sharlotte petitioned Gina Zimmerman, the veterans and military caseworker for U.S. Representative Mark Souder, R-3rd District, whose office processed the medal request.
The award presentation took place Saturday, February 7th at 9:00 am. Those in attendance included family and friends as well as the Army Reserves 221st Ordnance Company, which has been mobilized for possible active duty deployment overseas. Mark Souder spoke of the time he has just spent in the Middle East. He echoed President Bush’s sentiments that the work being done in Iraq is necessary for the safety of the free world.
There is probably nothing that stirs the emotions more than bringing up the memories of the Vietnam War. For those of us who lived through those years in the sixties and seventies, it is always difficult to think of those who have fought so courageously in the past and to stand before those who are about to be sent into the new conflict.
Berning himself was continually haunted by his experiences in Vietnam. He often had nightmares and suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and was a recovering alcoholic. He struggled with the guilt of returning home while so many of his friends and unit members died in those far away jungles.
Berning’s medal arrived 19 days after his death. Sharlotte felt the medal ceremony would send the 221st Ordnance Company off with the message that they will not be forgotten and they will not be left behind.
The ceremony ended with Tim Zimmerman playing the Army song and the remembered words, “As those caissons go rolling along.” The trumpet notes echoed through my mind as well as the memories of soldiers past that have given their all.
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