SGT Frank Spink

1st Battalion 22nd Infantry

B Company Veteran Receives Silver Star

SGT Frank Spink

On June 13, 1968 Sergeant Frank Spink of Company B 1/22 Infantry, 4th Infantry Division,
performed actions in Vietnam for which he was awarded the Silver Star Medal for Valor.
However, due to a snafu in paperwork, SGT Spink never received the medal,
and it was not included in his personnel file.

Frank didn't know about the award he was entitled to, and never thought much about
being entitled to a medal. He always believed he was just doing his job that day.

Frank's Platoon Leader in Vietnam, Lieutenant John McHenry, upon being reunited with
Frank in 2007, for the first time since the war, was aware of the medal, and enlisted
several of Frank's fellow veterans in the effort to see that Frank was properly awarded
the medal to which he was entitled.

On August 8, 2012, those efforts came to fruition, when Frank Spink was presented with
the Silver Star Medal for Valor while serving with distinction in the Republic of Vietnam.

The Silver Star Medal

The 1st Battalion website is grateful to Fred Golladay, B Company 1/22 Infantry 1969-1970
at whose direction the story of SGT Frank Spink is presented on these pages.

Top photo of Frank Spink at the medal ceremony by

Kenneth L. Hawkins Jr./ The Star

from the
sctimes.com

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