tomterrific4u
http://www.myspace.com/tomterrific4u

There is a guy with an EXTENSIVE page on MySpace.com calling himself  tomterrific4u. He claims a Navy Cross and battlefield commission for the Mayaguez Incident in 1975 at the age of 20. 

Heroes My Mother ** GySgt. Sid Fox who was my mentor in Vietnam from Nov 1973 thru April 1975 - our unit was TAD to USMAG/SEATO operating out of AA/DAO Compounds at Tan San Nhut and Udorn RTAFB up thru Operations Eagle Pull and Frequent Wind ** my Father ** General Robert E. Cushman Jr. USMC Commandant from 1 Jan 1972 to 30 June 1975 and a 1935 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy (10th in class of 442) and a recipient of the Navy Cross for valor during the battle for Fonte Hill on the island of Guam and a recipient of the Legion of Merit Medal for action during the Battle of Iwo Jima - who awarded me the Navy Cross Medal and also authorized my battlefield commission to 2nd Lt. ** The Honorable J. William Middendorf who was Secretary of the Navy from 8 Apr 1974 thru 20 Jan 1977 and who also authorized my commissioning ** my Grandmother ** Vice Admiral George P. Steele, Commander of the US Navy's Seventh Fleet, who gave me my battlefield commission in the ICU aboard the USS Blue Ridge, following OPERATION MAYAGUEZ on 16 May 1975 ** my Boston College Head Football Coaches: Joe Yukica & Ed Chlebek ** all of the officers and men of Special Operations Command, Naval Special Warfare Group One, First Marine Division's First Recon Battalion and the Marine Corps Force Recon Companys I've had the honor of serving with ** the divorced Soccer Mom lover I had as a teenager ** General Colen Powell U.S. Army ** General Carl Stiner U.S. Army ** Jerry Garcia ** Admiral Elmo Russell Zumwalt Jr. who was Chief of Naval Operations from July 1970 thru July 1974 ** President Gerald Ford ** US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger ** President Jimmy Carter ** Eric Clapton ** there are just too many for me to too many to mention

          

Tom
"Friendship, chemistry, happiness, contentment >>>we all deserve these in our lives!"

Male
52 years old
Rockville Centre, NEW YORK
United States



Last Login: 2/7/2007
There is only one Marine to earn a Navy Cross at that time and he was 2Lt. James V. McDaniel. 
 

 

From an expert on the MAYAGUEZ:

  • The USS Blue Ridge did not participate in any of the combat action around Koh Tang during the Mayaguez Incident.   There were some late-comers that showed up after the smoke had cleared, but they did not engage. 
  • The Marines involved in Mayaguez came from Okinawa (9th battalion) and a company from the PI also was involved.  No Marines joined from Udorn, and we were already out of Vietnam. 
  • He would have gotten his commission at 20 YOA...no way.
  • I have not ever heard of battlefield commissions being given out during the Vietnam War.