I don't think I mentioned this but I lost my astranged father a month or two ago. I hadn't seen him in 15 years even though we lived in the same town and had a falling out when I was 20 and in trouble and needed his help. He decided not to help me and we never spoke again. (The help needed was I was a witness to an violent crime) and was well know with some others from my set as having witnessed the whole event. I explained to him I needed to lay low because of what happened and he refused to help even though he owned 60 properties.
FastForward 15 years I get a call saying he's dead. Which for some reason I already knew the month before. Was talking with other family about his where abouts and I just figured he was dead by now. He was diagnosed with cancer in Feb, tried treating it holistically and refused Chemo? Ended up dyeing 3 days after my 36th birthday. Since I was astranged I couldn't make the funeral because he was a nam vet and was burried in a military cemetary. Ok now my official stepmom of 6 months mailed me his tombstone pick and it reads


John E Doe
1st Lt
US Army
Vietnam
1946 - 2012
BSM & OLC
In Loving
memory.


What do the BSM & OLC mean? I know he fired artillery from a firebase in nam.

 

Ok OLC means Oak Leaf Cluster which is some sort of military award.
BSM means Bronze Star Medal.


SOLVED Thanks. I did a bunch of acronym searches and got nothing till wikipedia had it with Military Acronym.

I also just got an email from my Stepmother. Turns out he has 3 bronze stars(Which is 1 rank higher then a purple heart) an oakleaf cluster and 4 more lesser awards. But they only put the 2 highest medals on your tombstone.

 

Max, sorry to hear that,I have felt something different in your post the last few

months. I am not surprised. I hope letting this out will help you deal with it better.

I have been trying to figure out the rose, a message perhaps... Memorial.

 

Nah I've just had a really bad year. I'll bullet point it for yah so you can see how my year has gone. The Rose is actually a poppy. I used this for 2 reasons 1 I like to grow poppies cause its really hard here. 2. The Tudor rose, I actually have a theory that it is a poppy not a rose. If you check it from the war of the roses they look like poppies not roses. Then when you combine them into the tudor rose it looks like a rose. But look at the Lancaster Rose and the York Rose. Anyways

Jan - Fight with brother gets violent, police are involved, we swear a blood fued. Haven't talked in 13 months
March - Got jacked for $5000 from a previous employer/contractor.
May - Found out one of my really good HS friends who was like a sister, had just gotten her phd the week before and the sweetest girl in the world commtited suicide jumping the GG. Shortly after got into a fight with boss and he threatened to kill me, we traded shots, I won, he called the cops but wouldn't quit saying he was gonna kill me so cop who was his friend just begged me to leave.
Aug- Get into a really bad car crash that leaves my head hazy for about 3 weeks and my back and should permanently screwed. Have 6 discs messed up and have to deal with painkillers and therapy everyday. Also lost my beloved car
Sept - Got paid for car and wouldn't even cover taxes on getting a new one. Father Died
Oct - Found out father died thru other relatives.
Nov-Dec - Holidays which were a mess of me and my brother avoiding each other.

So finally Jan is a new year, I got a good car now with the 0% interest and I raped em on the invoice price so I basically got a $32k car for $25k. Thats got me feeling better being mobile again. Now I plan on moving somewhere else a couple years to get away from the FL thing.

 

max ... the army bronze oak leaf cluster indicates a subsequent awarding of a bronze star. so you father had two bronze stars. Each additional bronze oak leaf cluster indicates another bronze star. The silver oak leaf cluster indicates the fifth awarding of subsequent bronze stars, and replaces the four bronze oak leaf cluster on the ribbon/medal. If there was a "V" it would be for valor.

 

Max, last year has been really harsh to you. I know that at the end, we are merely humans, but try to let things go and start a new life, if there's only spite and resent for you back there. It's not good for you.

 

max ... the army bronze oak leaf cluster indicates a subsequent awarding of a bronze star. so you father had two bronze stars. Each additional bronze oak leaf cluster indicates another bronze star. The silver oak leaf cluster indicates the fifth awarding of subsequent bronze stars, and replaces the four bronze oak leaf cluster on the ribbon/medal. If there was a "V" it would be for valor.

All I know for fact is his Tombstone saw BSM and OLC. My stepmom said she had no idea he had these medals till after the funeral and she went thru his stuff. She said he had won 3 bonze stars? As far as the oak leaf cluster I don't know what color it just says OLC. She said he had 4 more medals but didn't know what they were.

For those interested he went to UK for 3.5 years and took a semester off. 1 month later his draft notice arrived. Since he had so much schooling or did good on tests he went straight into officers training as a LT. He then went to nam and ran a firebase doing artillery. He was deaf in one ear from it. What I was told is he came in loaded shells for a month or so then was promoted to 1st Lt and put in charge of doing all the math for the artillery. For some reason men in our family only have an overactive left side of the brain and a damaged right side. LOL

 

Wow and I thought my family was screwed up. Sorry Bro. I have not talked to my brother in months. He borrowed money and never paid me back. When I asked him about it he laughed. That will be the last penny he gets from me, including from my will and I have no one else to leave it to.

Don't know about your relationship with your father but he certainly seemed to be a heck of a man at least for a good period in his life.

 

He had his moments. Built a Holiday Inn that went Crown Royal? I think is the award. And was ranked #17th in the world. Had waterfalls in the entrances. I lived their in a penthouse for a year. He was heavily involved in real estate and used to be on the news and all that. At one point he owned 18 cars, all collectors like 65 mustang fastbacks, 66 Thunderbirds, a 57 Chevy, a MG, Lots o vettes, best one was a 66 convertable white with red interior with turbo's on the side. We were pretty much what you would consider megawealthy. Then the 80's recession hit and he was indirectly thru no fault of his own involved in a big scandle while the recession hit. Being in real estate he crumbled and pretty much lost a lot. Thats when he split when I was around 11 or so and supported his own lifestyle. So growing up 11-15 was weird. It was seeing G. Steinbrenner at the horse tracks on weekends in the club, going tarpon fishing in Boca for the tourney, hunting in AL, staying in high dollar hotels travelling and living big with dad on weekends. Then come home to mom and having the water and electricity turned off each month, going without eating, and on foodstamps with mom on weekdays and weekends. Being raised like that kinda messes you up and gives you a unique look at life since I've litterally lived 2 worlds growing up. Then at 15 mom split because I was out of hand and doing stupid things. At the time I felt I had to, to survive. But she moved out and I lived 15-18 on my own in a huge mansion(not richy rich or nothing but 5 rooms, 1/2 acre 1905 built spanish FL house.) the IRS was taking but the IRS agent delayed till I turned 18. I can honestly say he was a really nice IRS agent.