Robert J. Yered
Yered being awarded the Silver Star as an Engineman First Class
Born(1939-12-02)December 2, 1939
Millis, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedJanuary 26, 2009(2009-01-26) (aged 69)[1]
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch United States Coast Guard
Rank Master Chief Petty Officer
Battles/warsVietnam War
AwardsSilver Star, Purple Heart, Vietnam Service Medal

Robert James Yered was a United States Coast Guardsman who was awarded the Silver Star Medal for his actions during the Vietnam War.[2][3][4][5][6]

Career

According to the Milford Daily News, his local paper, Yered enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard at seventeen years old.[2] He rose to the highest enlisted rank, master chief petty officer, prior to his retirement after 24 years of service.

Yered's 82-foot Point-class cutter was moored in a river port at Cát Lái, Vietnam, on February 18, 1968, when the base was attacked by mortars and rockets.[7][3][8] According to his official biography:

In the early morning hours the terminal at Cat Lai was attacked by enemy rocket, mortar and small arms fire. As the heavy rounds beat into the terminal, one of the rockets struck a barge carrying several hundred tons of mortar ammunition. The barge was quickly engulfed in flames, and threatened to destroy three nearby ammunition ships carrying more than fifteen thousand tons of explosives.
Engineman Yered courageously exposed himself to enemy gunfire as he helped extinguish fires on the burning barge. His bold act averted not only the destruction of his own ship but also that of the entire terminal.[3]

Yered was also awarded a Purple Heart.

Personal life

After he retired from the U.S. Coast Guard Yered was a groundskeeper at a high school in Massachusetts.[9]

Legacy

In 2010, when the U.S. Coast Guard decided that all the new Sentinel-class cutters would be named after U.S. Coast Guardsmen who had been recognized for their heroism, Yered was one of those to be honored.[3][10] The fourth cutter in the class was named the USCGC Robert Yered (WPC-1104).[11][12]

References

  1. ↑ "Robert James Yered Sr". Legacy. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  2. 1 2 Whitney Clearman (2012-01-29). "Coast Guard will name ship after Millis veteran". Milford Daily News. Retrieved 2012-04-21. Robert Yered signed up for the Coast Guard at 17, George Yered remembers. He served 21 years and attained the highest rank as a non-commissioned officer before retiring and moving back to Millis with his wife and two children.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Stephanie Young (2010-10-28). "Coast Guard Heroes: Robert J. Yered". United States Coast Guard. Archived from the original on 2012-02-26. Retrieved 2012-04-20. Yered's valorous character shone through many times throughout his career and he is one of 12 Coast Guardsmen awarded the Silver Star.
  4. ↑ Nat Kline (1968-12-01). "The Military View". Boston Globe. p. 93. Retrieved 2012-11-12. Coast Guardsman Robert Yered has been awarded the silver Star for heroism in Vietnam. When a Viet Cong attack caused fire to break out in the ...
  5. ↑ "CG Hero to Get Silver Star". Boston Globe. 2012-11-26. p. 8. Retrieved 2012-11-27. CG Hero to Get Silver Star SCITUATE Silver Star will be presented Wednesday to Coast Guard Engineman Robert Yered 28, Jamaica Plain native for heroism ...
  6. ↑ Herbert Gordon (1968-11-28). "Fireman on Blazing Ammo Barge: Bostonian Gets Silver Star". Boston Globe. p. 27. Retrieved 2012-11-27. A Boston Coast Guad enlisted man, who risked his life to help put out a fire on an Army ammunition barge during an enemy mortar attack last February in Vietnam, was awarded the Silver Star in...
  7. ↑ Kelley, p 5-95
  8. ↑ Thomas P. Ostrom (2011). "The United States Coast Guard and National Defense: A History from World War I to the Present". McFarland & Company. p. 62. ISBN 9780786464807. Retrieved 2012-11-12. Engineman First Class Robert J. Yered (USCG) is another port security ELD hero in Vietnam. EN1 Yered responded to a VC attack in the port waters of Cat Lai in February 1968. A barge containing mortar ammunition was burning. EN1 Yered climbed into the burning barge armed with a water hose, threw burning shells overboard, and put out the fires despite the risk of explosion. Militar police chased the VC away from the surrounding marches, and a U.S. Army sergeant came to Yered's assistance. The U.S. Army later awarded Petty Officer Robert J. Yered a Silver Star.
  9. ↑ Cammy Clark (2013-02-10). "Coast Guard's newest patrol cutter — based in Miami Beach — eager to begin real missions". Miami: Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2013-02-21. My father was proud and private and never really talked about Vietnam to us," said his daughter, Lori Geddis. "I hope he would be proud of this. He was never the kind of person to have the attention on him. "But a lot of people respected my father and I think people will try to live up to his expectations. Even after he left the Coast Guard, he was a groundskeeper at a high school and his fields were perfect.
  10. ↑ Stephanie Young (2010-10-27). "Coast Guard Heroes". United States Coast Guard. Archived from the original on 2012-11-27. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  11. ↑ "FRC Plan B: The Sentinel Class". Defense Industry Daily. 2014-05-02. Archived from the original on 2014-07-07. Retrieved 2014-04-03. All of these boats will be named after enlisted Coast Guard heroes, who distinguished themselves in USCG or military service. The first 25 have been named, but only 8 have been commissioned...
  12. ↑ Stephanie Young (2013-02-14). "Crew of New Cutter Proud to be Plank Owners". Military.com. Archived from the original on 2014-05-13. "Having a Coast Guard hero as our ship's namesake gives her an identity. The crew has learned about Robert Yered and how he served his shipmates and nation," said Petty Officer 1st Class Jeffrey Foster. As the crew honors the ship's namesake, they look to the future and the potential missions they will be a part of aboard the new generation in a long history of Coast Guard patrol boats.

Notes

  • Kelley, Michael P. (2002). Where We Were in Vietnam. Hellgate Press, Central Point, Oregon. ISBN 978-1-55571-625-7.
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