Vietnam vet injured by tiger denied Purple Heart

MASSENA — Holly A. Goolden, Raymondville, wants her father, Richard P., Massena, to receive what he is due, along with every other veteran.

"I want to get a petition going for all veterans to get their awards and medals they should have received. When they're out of the service, they treat them like garbage," she said. "This all started over my father's Purple Heart."

While on patrol in Vietnam as a staff sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps on Dec. 23, 1968, Mr. Goolden was attacked by a tiger, which grabbed him by the head and neck. The tiger was dragging him away when his fellow Marines fell on the animal and killed it.

Mr. Goolden, who still bears the scars of the attack, took a year to recover.

He was given a document awarding him the Purple Heart, but the designation did not appear on his discharge papers and he never received the medal.

"It's the only one that they're holding back on me," Mr. Goolden said. "They're saying I don't deserve to wear the Purple Heart."

Miss Goolden said she understood the importance of the medal for her father, so she and her aunt, Debora Fenton, did the legwork over the last few years, working with veterans agencies and politicians to give him the authorizing paperwork.

They thought everything was taken care of and arranged a banquet in honor of Mr. Goolden, only to learn a few days before the event that Marine Corps officials in Quantico, Va., had determined his injury didn't meet the criteria because he was not wounded as the result of enemy action.

"Him not getting the Purple Heart is like a slap in the face for him," Miss Goolden said. "As long as they were fighting and they got hurt, it shouldn't matter what the circumstances were."

Earlier this month, she wrote a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to reconsider her father's case.

"If my father can't get it because it was a tiger, then let's change the law of the Purple Heart," she wrote. "I've already contacted the Department of Defense and they won't even call me back. Congressman (William L. ) Owens's office won't even help me."

A spokesman for Rep. Owens, D-Plattsburgh, said he has not given up.

"Congressman Owens' office has interacted with Miss Goolden on a number of occasions and, after investigating the guidelines for Purple Heart recipients, was advised by the Department of the Navy that animal attacks were not among the criteria for the award. It is awarded to those who sustain wounds from result of enemy action," Sean R. Magers said in an e-mail.

Miss Goolden said she decided to extend her cause to all veterans who have not received the awards and benefits they think they deserve and is starting a petition that she can forward to President Obama.

She intends to circulate it at veterans organizations and online on the social networking site Facebook.

"Most of it's going to be word of mouth," she said. "I want all people that believe in this to contact me if they know of anyone."

She can be reached at P.O. Box 182, Raymondville, N.Y. 13678 or by calling 296-3240.