Nice blog, Dianna.   I was impressed when you showed me your father's bio that listed dozens and dozens of honors and medals.  Perhaps you would consider sharing some of your father's stories here.  it is good to take your mind off of the other issues and to post on different subjects.  

Good job  :)

My father is Paul Eddie Hill.  According to him, he is not a hero... While his list of medals is missing a "PURPLE HEART", I believe he has duly earned one; despite his beliefs that it was a "bolo badge" which meant you had "damaged government property (G.I.)...   

Paul Eddie Hill enlisted in the U.S. Army on April 30, 1962, and after re-enlisting 3 more times with Honorable Discharges, was honorably discharged on January 31, 1976.    

Paul Eddie Hill enlisted into the U.S. Army attending basic training at Fort Knox, KY and Advanced Individual Training at Ft. Sam Houston, TX. He attended Jump School (Airborne) at Fort Benning, GA and was later assigned to Germany as a medic and attended military schools and civilian school for his GED. He volunteered for Special Forces training and went to Fort Bragg, N.C. He trained in Light and Heavy Weapons, Operations and Intelligence, Jump Master School and Instructor Training Course. He also served as an instructor at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, NC. 

He volunteered for service in Vietnam. He served with Project Delta Detachment B-52, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) which was the most highly decorated Special Operations UNIT during the Vietnam War Era and also was one of the only U.S. Army units and the only Special Forces Unit to receive the Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon.

Other units he served with include the 8th Infantry Division (Airborn), XVIII Airborne Corp, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), 5th SFG(A), 6th SFG(A), 11th SFG(A) and UITG and FANK.

His list of Foreign Duty assignments include Dominican Republic, Germany and several tours in Vietnam.

Project Delta Unit Awards earned by Paul Eddie Hill include Presidential Unit Citation, Valorous Unit Award, Meritorious Unit Commendation, U.S. Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon, RVN Cross of Gallantry w/Palm also with RVN Cross of Gallantry with 2nd Palm, and the  RVN Civil Actions Honor Medal First Class. 

Other Awards earned by Paul Eddie Hill as a soldier throughout his career include but are not limited to: Combat Infantryman's Badge, Bronze Star/Valor with Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Medal with Oak Leaf Clusters, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, National Defense Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal for Cambodia, Vietnam Service Medal with Device 60, Good Conduct Medal Clasp (Second Award), Overseas Bars, Parachute Badge, Vietnamese Jump Wings, Cambodian Jump Wings, Letter of Commendation in Support of PROJECT IVORY COAST, Letter of Commendation from III Marine Amphibious Force, Letter of Appreciation from 1st Air Cavalry Division (Airmobile). Paul Eddie Hill served as OPCON to the 101st Airborne Division, 3rd Marine Division, and the 5th ARVD Division as well as the CG, 1CTZ, CGII CTX, CG III, 1 FFVN, II FFVN, II MAF and Company A 5th Special Forces Group.

My father has forever worn his treasured Project Delta "ring" was presented to members of Project Delta, almost like a "Class Ring".

Curiosly, hearing him and his comrads talk about their time in Vietnam is farly removed from many folks' stories about Vietnam. I know he tries to share the "good" stories while hiding the 'ugly' truths he experienced.

As a child of a Vietnam Veteran who was spit on coming off the plane from Vietnam; I know what it's like to have seen more than my share of "PTSD". I know what it's like for homeless veterans to live with us for durations until they got on their feet. I know what it's like to be at both Brecksville and Wade Park Veteran's Hospitals for visits and volunteering to provide relief to veterans, their families, and even deployed soldiers since childhood. I have been surrounded by countless veterans my entire life and I am proud to have known almost all of them; except one. Despite all those experiences and bittersweet memories; hoping that there is enough time left to share with my dad and to document and share the amazing history in my dad's head is by far one of my most treasured prayers.... As he'd say: "If God's willing and the creek don't rise...we'll get through it all!"

Always Appreciative, "ANGELnWard14"

Dianna Lynn Hill

I think your Dad is FANTASTIC!  ....and you too...by giving him some WORLDLY RECOGNITION!  I know his heart is going pitter-patter. 

My family sends their salutes to the extraordinary service of Col. Howard! RIP! 

 COL Robert L Howard MOH : A TRIBUTE TO HIS SERVICE

Always Appreciative, "ANGELnWard14"

This content is copied/pasted from an email received earlier with notice of the memorial....

Subject:  A Green Beret comes home / James Leslie Moreland - battle at Lang Vei MIA returned

www.pow-miafamilies.org
Green Beret James Leslie Moreland's remains to be buried in Bibb County 43 years after MIA in Vietnam
Published: Friday, February 18, 2011, 7:15 AM
By Mike Oliver, The Birmingham News

James Leslie Moreland

The graves shown are the Moreland family in Brierfield. The remains of James Leslie Moreland, a former MIA in Vietnam, were recently identified and he will be buried May 14, at the cemetery next to his parents, Fred Moreland and Gladys Moreland. ( Beverly Taylor / The Birmingham News )

BRIERFIELD -- There's a spot marked in a small country graveyard near here for the long lost Green Beret.

Now, after 43 years of uncertainty, the grave in Ashby Cemetery can be filled.

Burial for James Leslie Moreland -- missing in action in Vietnam since Feb. 7, 1968 -- will be May 14 in this isolated cemetery off Bibb County 2, south of Montevallo. Moreland was born in Bessemer on Sept. 29, 1945, moved to California in high school and in 1965 went to Vietnam as a medic in the elite Army Special Forces.

The 22-year-old was presumed dead after a ferocious battle at Lang Vei in South Vietnam. But his body wasn't recovered or identified. Finding the body and securing an ID turned into a decades-long quest until last month, when DNA earlier submitted by five relatives matched remains found at Lang Vei.

"It was very emotional coming up on the 43rd anniversary," said Linda Brown, 62, the youngest of the five Moreland siblings. The family had all come to accept James was dead, but they persisted on finding his body, Brown said.

"I had never given up," said Brown, who lives in Washington state near sister Edna Anita LaMoine, 73. "I said I wouldn't care if they identified just one bone fragment so we could say, 'Yes, it is our brother.'"

Unknown to the Moreland family at the time, a Christmas Day gift in 1972 to a 12-year-old girl added one more person to the long pursuit for answers. Kathy Strong of Walnut Creek, Calif., remembers asking for an MIA bracelet because it was the cool thing to have at the time. Santa Claus brought a bracelet with the name: James Leslie Moreland.

Now 50, Strong became close to members of the Moreland family after her hometown newspaper, the Contra Costa Times, several years ago chronicled how she had worn the bracelet for decades and had grown increasingly interested in Moreland's story.

Strong plans to attend the upcoming burial in Alabama, where she said she will relinquish her bracelet to be buried with the remains.

"My promise was to keep it until he came home and then give it back," Strong said.

Moreland's commanding officer, Paul Longgrear, who is an ordained minister, will officiate the service.

Longgrear led a strike force unit, which included Moreland, to help defend a Special Forces camp near the Laotian border. The camp was a "thorn in the side of the North Vietnamese," Longgrear said, and on Feb. 6, 1968, it came under heavy attack from enemy tanks. He said he remembered Moreland being seriously wounded in the head as he went to fetch a machine gun in an open area, aiming to keep it out of enemy hands. In the ensuing explosions and subsequent takeover, some men escaped, some were captured, some were killed. Moreland's body was never recovered.

"He was a great guy -- a great looking kid with a lot of confidence," said Longg rear, who lives in Pine Mountain, Ga. "He had that swagger. Green Beret tend to be that way."

Moreland's early childhood years were spent in the Birmingham area and in Selma, his sisters said. He went to Lyman Ward Military Academy in Camp Hill in the eighth and ninth grades. The family moved to southern California in 1962, and Moreland became an all-county football player at Western High School in Anaheim, playing on the same team as Andy Messersmith, who went on to become a Major League baseball player. After graduation, Moreland attended Fullerton Junior College but ultimately followed his two older brothers' footsteps into the military, albeit a different branch.

"I tried my best to get him to come to the Navy," chuckled retired Navy Seabee and older brother Robert D. Moreland, 75, of Lakeside, Calif. "But he liked to skydive."

When on June 5, 1978, the Army declared Moreland "presumed dead," his mother, Gladys Parks, organized a memorial service for him at Ashby Cemetery and dedicated a large granite marker in her son's memory. They played 'Ballad of the Green Beret' and tears flowed, Brown remembered.

Moreland's mother died April 1, 2001, but she talked to The Birmingham News in 1978 about the memorial.

"I just felt this memorial was one way I can honor him," she said. "But to me he's not dead. If they could have ever found some trace of him to give me, some little something to prove they found him, I could accept it. ... Maybe someday I will."

Dorothy Moreland, 81, of Montevallo, who is widower of the oldest Moreland sibling, Roger, said it is sad Parks won't see this day. But there's some comfort to be taken, she supposes, in the burial arrangement putting Moreland next to the graves of his mother and father.

When they lay him to rest, "brother'll be back home between mommy and daddy," she said.

Always Appreciative, "ANGELnWard14"

Men who mean just what they say...the brave men of the Green Beret.......

Happy Veteran's Day to All of America's Best! 

Always Appreciative, "ANGELnWard14"

HILL PAUL EDDIE HILL age 68. Born in Newport, TN and raised in Cleveland passed away January 27, 2014 at his home in Tippecanoe, OH surrounded by his loving family.

Beloved husband of the late Phyllis (nee McArdle). Loving father of Paul Edward (deceased), Edward Lee (Kelly Jones), Billy Jack, Dianna Lynn. Adopted grandfather of Coty (deceased) and Edward Lee II.

Cherished grandfather of Ashley and Shawnee Kearns, Walter, Austin, Blair, Mark, Angelina Elizabeth Rose and Liberty Isabella Naydeen Hill.

Son of the late Paul McMahan (Betty) and Martha Brown (William "Buck").

Dear brother of Steve "Butch" (Minnie), Linda Roesky (deceased) (Andy), Phillip McMahan (deceased) (Sandy Rager), Donald McMahan (Lynn), Lenny Brown (Peggy), Dave Brown (Dale), Donald Brown (deceased) (Noka), Ronald Brown (deceased) (Sue Barbera) (Duke), William Brown, Keith Brown (deceased) and Beverly Perez (Matt). Son in Law of the late William McArdle and Lynnette McNemar (Eugene). Brother in law of Donna Jones (Bill) (both deceased), Gail McArdle (deceased), Danielle Kovacic (Andy), Jeanne Llorente (Joel), Mila Brady (John), William "Daryl" McArdle (Maryanne), Mark McArdle (deceased) (Robin) and Robin Haynik (Rusty).

Special uncle, great uncle, nephew, cousin and friend of many.

Second Dad "Pap" to Christopher Maynard, Chris Cunningham and Zak Beebe.

Endearing friend of Rodney Wallace, Albert Ribis and Dr. John P. Wilson (Silvana).

U.S. Army Special Forces Project Delta - Det. B-52 Vietnam Veteran.

Funeral services at the funeral home Friday January 31, 2014 at 7:00 PM and

Saturday February 1, 2014 at the Lakeland Area Ministries, Church of the Nazarene, 79030 State Route 800, Tippecanoe, OH 44699 from 10 AM - Noon.

Interment Hill Family Cemetery.

Friends received Friday 4 - 7 PM at the A. RIPEPI AND SONS FUNERAL HOME, 3202 FULTON ROAD, CLEVELAND, OHIO. -

See more at: http://obits.cleveland.com/obituaries/cleveland/obituary.aspx?pid=169389107#sthash.yzGjhkef.dpuf

Always Appreciative, "ANGELnWard14"

salutes i met paul at diannas i liked paul wish i could have talked longer - pauls with us in spirit body not human body that caused pain - "there is no death only a change of worlds" - Chief Seattle

sophia honey yoga and guy -

It's been a long battle.    

Mr. Hill had many well wishers here at Realneo.  

Mr. Hill's Daughter has done a hell of a job for her Dad.

Good Bye Mr. Hill.

Best,   Jeff