AfA-60-1:  Under Secretary Decorates Corpsmen.   U.S. Navy Under Secretary Robert H. Baldwin presents Hospital Corpsman Third Class Franklin F. Reitinger, USN, with the Purple Heart medal.  Corpsman Reitinger was one of fourteen U.S. Navy Corpsmen and one Seabee to receive the Purple Heart during ceremonies held at the U.S. Naval Hospital, Saigon, on December 12, 1965.  The sailors were awarded the medals for wounds received in the December 4, 1965, Viet Cong terrorist bombing of the Metropole Hotel, located across the street from the Naval Hospital.  Some 120 Americans and Vietnamese were injured by the explosion, and ten persons died in the blast.  The Under Secretary was on an official visit to Vietnam and told the sailors that service in Saigon “was just the same as being on the front lines.”   Photographed by JO1 Thomas A. Johnston.   Photograph released January 2, 1966.  (2/20/2009).
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/127906254@N06">National Museum of the U.S. Navy</a>
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