Bradenton man receives Bronze Star Medal for service over 50 years after Vietnam War

James A. Jones Jr.
·4 min read

Fifty-three years after his U.S. Army service in Vietnam, Jared Kelley this week received the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service.

Kelley, a Bradenton resident, is one of 56 Vietnam-era military policemen who received the medal for their unheralded and dangerous service as infantry defending Long Binh, the largest U.S. military base during the Vietnam War.

Kelley, 75, was a member of an ambush and reconnaissance unit with Company B, 720th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade, nicknamed the “Bushwhackers.”

As Robert Bogison describes in his book, “Up Close & Personal: In-Country Chieu Hoi, Vietnam 1969-1970,” the Bushwhackers had the mission of defending against Viet Cong or North Vietnamese Army units within a 22-square-mile area outside Long Binh and neighboring Binh Hoa.

“Each mission generally required a six-day/six-night trek into the swampy rice paddies and flood jungle adjacent to the Dong Nai River,” wrote Bogison, who served as a member of the Bushwhackers.

It was not a mission for which the MPs had been trained. Essentially, they served as a “trip wire” against an attack on Long Binh and Binh Hoa.

Fifty-three years after his U. S. Army service in Vietnam, Jared Kelley, of Bradenton, received the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service.
Fifty-three years after his U. S. Army service in Vietnam, Jared Kelley, of Bradenton, received the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service.

“We called it on-the-job training with consequences,” Kelley said.

“As soon as you went out the front gate of Long Binh, the sergeant said, ‘Lock and load your weapons.’ That’s when you wondered if you’re going to survive it,” he said.

Veteran recalls military service

The teams would then be taken by boat to a different ambush site each night, places the soldiers nicknamed the Rice Factory, Rabbit Ears, the Brick Factory and the Duck Farm.

Kelley started out as an assistant gunner on an M-60 machine gun team, carrying 300 rounds of ammunition plus an M-16 rifle.

Fifty-three years after his U. S. Army service in Vietnam, Jared Kelley, of Bradenton, received the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service.
Fifty-three years after his U. S. Army service in Vietnam, Jared Kelley, of Bradenton, received the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service.

Later, he took teams out by boat to ambush sites. One night after dropping off a team, the engine on his boat conked out and he was unable to restart it. He worried that in the dark he might be shot by friendlies or by the enemy.

“I was drifting to the wrong side of the river,” he said.

Just as he was taking off his shirt and preparing to jump overboard to lower his profile, another U.S. Army boat came around a bend in the river and rescued him.

Danger was ever-present. Kelley remembers that three members of the Bushwhackers drowned, weighed down by their uniforms and gear, in a boating accident.

Fifty-three years after his U. S. Army service in Vietnam, Jared Kelley, of Bradenton, received the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service. Kelley points to a photograph of himself in Vietnam from Stars and Stripes, an American military newspaper.
Fifty-three years after his U. S. Army service in Vietnam, Jared Kelley, of Bradenton, received the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service. Kelley points to a photograph of himself in Vietnam from Stars and Stripes, an American military newspaper.

There was also the threat of friendly fire. Thai, South Vietnamese and Republic of Korea troops operated in the area patrolled by the Bushwhackers. Kelley believes that due to coordination and language challenges, his outfit took as much incoming fire from friendlies as from the enemy.

“Up Close and Personal” put a spotlight on the Bushwhackers, bringing their service to the attention of Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio.

Bronze Star Medal ceremony

Latta’s efforts on their behalf prompted an extensive U.S. Army historical records investigation into personnel files in College Park, Maryland, and St. Louis, Missouri.

“It was then determined that members of B Company would be eligible to receive Bronze Star Medals for service. The Bronze Stars are in recognition of your heroic and meritorious bravery while you served in Vietnam,” Latta wrote.

During a July 24 a ceremony outside the U.S. Capitol, 35 surviving Bushwhackers received the BSM.

Kelley was unable to make the trip to Washington, D.C., and received his BSM this week by mail with a letter from Rep. Latta.

“This honor is overdue, and I hope that receiving it will be a step in the right direction in acknowledging your brave actions,” Latta wrote.

Maj. Gen. Thomas Drew, commander of the Army’s Human Resources Command, said in an interview with Military.com, that in addition to the awards to the Bushwhackers, the Army is conducting a review to determine whether other veterans may have missed out on awards.

Kelley said it was bittersweet receiving the BSM after so many years, in part because some members of Company B died in recent years before the award was authorized.

Life after the Vietnam War

After his Vietnam service between Oct. 30, 1969, and late 1970, Kelley worked as a master plumber and later taught plumbing and blueprint reading in the Kentucky prison system. He believes his prison work worsened his post-traumatic stress disorder from Vietnam.

After years of treatment and counseling, the PTSD is better now, but he still suffers from a myriad of other illnesses.

Kelley retired from Kentucky to the Bradenton area in 2019.

Dianne Rapier, a lifelong friend of Kelley’s from Kentucky — he dated her twin sister — said she is very happy for him after all that he has been through.

“Jared is such a kind and gentle man who suffers from PTSD and other physical ailments from the war,” she said. “He’s the sweetest man.”