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Vietnam veteran receives award 37 years late
November 10, 2003

Bill Schiebler, of Eden Prairie, received the medal for rescuing a friend stranded behind enemy lines the night of Nov. 2-3, 1965. (MPR Photo/Laura McCallum)

St. Paul, Minn. — (AP) A Vietnam War veteran was awarded a Bronze Star for valor Monday - 37 years late. Bill Schiebler, of Eden Prairie, received the medal for rescuing a friend stranded behind enemy lines the night of Nov. 2-3, 1965. During the same rescue, Schiebler carried a wounded North Vietnamese soldier on his back about three miles for medical attention, finding out later that the man was the highest-ranking officer captured so far in the war.

"I just tried to do my job back there," Schiebler, now 62, said. "We were just trying to survive."

Although he served in many Army units, he was a paratrooper and member of the "Screaming Eagles," the 101st Airborne Division, during his time in Vietnam.

A few weeks after he saved his friend, he was among the fewer than 450 U.S. soldiers dropped into the Ia Drang valley, where they were surrounded by about 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers.

The three-day battle was the first major clash between the North Vietnamese army and U.S. troops in the Vietnam War, and included the deadliest day in the conflict for American soldiers - 155 killed and 124 wounded.

Schiebler earlier received four Purple Hearts for being wounded in action. Schiebler was shot in his hip, knee and neck as well as being injured by shrapnel.

Of the 186-person unit he entered Vietnam with, only four were still alive when he left fewer than six months later.

Although he was recommended for the Bronze Star decades ago, Schiebler didn't know it until 1996, when he was talking to Paul Mobley, the friend he had rescued that November night in 1965.

Mobley contacted Lt. General Hal Moore about the award, but died of prostate cancer the following year before getting the award to Schiebler.

A couple of months ago, Mobley's widow found the medal in the attic of their Virginia home and sent it back to the Pentagon, which recently forwarded that and three other medals to the man who had earned them so long ago.

While 2.8 million medals have been given out to Vietnam veterans, fewer than 171,000 were Bronze Stars for valor. A small "V" on the ribbon distinguishes the award from the more broadly earned Bronze Star for achievement.

"Bill Schiebler's a hero," said Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who helped present the award. "The paperwork got messed up. ... Through strange circumstances, we're here 37 years later."

Schiebler said he was humbled to accept the award and reminded folks to remember the soldiers fighting in various parts of the world this Veterans Day. More Minnesota troops are deployed now than at any time since World War II.

"Find one or more of these folks and write them a letter," he said. "It means so much."

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