WASHINGTON — Eight service members received Bronze Star Medals on Tuesday, three decades after the awards were originally recommended for the veterans who served in Bosnia.
U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., presented the medals to the veterans, including retired Brig. Gen. Guy Sands-Pingot of Huntsville during a ceremony in Washington.
The service members were part of the Joint Task Force Provide Promise forward detachment in Bosnia, which helped coordinate American military assistance during the humanitarian crisis in the former Yugoslavia. The U.S. forces served for about four years during the war in Bosnia and helped airlift more than 160,000 metric tons of food and medical supplies into Sarajevo up until 1996.
In 1995, Lt. Col. Randall Banky, their detachment leader, submitted award recommendations to the U.S. Army for the eight service members, but they were never acted upon. Last October, Tuberville requested the Army review the Bronze Star recommendations.
On Tuesday, the veterans and two family members accepting the award on behalf of their late loved ones finally received their medals. Tuberville pinned the stars on each veteran in the historic Kennedy Caucus Room.
“For some reason, whether it was political or other, in the 1990s, we did not want to recognize that we had soldiers at war, and we can carry that over to operations ever since then too,” Sands-Pingot said. “We need to recognize when we put our Americans in danger, uniformed Americans in danger. There’s some recognition for them and for their loved ones they left behind.”
During some of the most intense fighting of the Yugoslav Wars, Sands-Pingot planned, directed and carried out humanitarian relief efforts throughout the region. He oversaw relief efforts for refugees from the former U.N. Safe Areas of Srebrenica and Zepa.
The Bronze Star Medal is a U.S. military decoration awarded to service members who show acts of heroism in a combat zone. It is the fourth highest award in the U.S. Armed Forces for bravery in combat.
“Even a Bronze Star can’t convey the gratitude that we owe to these great efforts,” Tuberville said. “They put their lives on the line to make our country great, our world a safer place.”
Along with Sands-Pingot, Lt. Col. Stacy P. Pilgreen, retired, Command Sgt. Maj. Keith J. Filipp, retired, Command Sgt. Maj. Steven D. Houde, retired, former Sgt. William E. Barber III, Master Sgt. David R. Respass, retired, James D. Bruner and Maj. Stephen Darulla received the award.