Romeoville vet gets Purple Heart 50 years after Vietnam War wounds

It took about 50 years, but Vietnam War veteran Jerome “Sonny” Zdancewicz got his Purple Hearts – at least most of them.

Zdancewicz, who lives in Romeoville, was injured three times while he was in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969 serving as a sergeant in the Army 7th Cavalry Regiment that saw heavy combat in the war.

“I was probably in combat every third day,” Zdancewicz said. “In the cavalry, if they spotted the enemy, we would jump in the helicopter and go in.”

After his third war wound, the Army sent Zdancewicz back to the U.S., where he finished his service as an MP at Fort Sheridan in Illinois before leaving the Army in 1970.

At the time, Zdancewicz didn’t think about getting medals for the action he saw and the wounds he suffered, which left him with limited use of his right arm and hand for the rest of his life and a set of new, man-made front teeth to replace the ones ripped out by a bullet.

“I didn’t care, Zdancewicz said. “I didn’t care about my medals. You’re in combat. You don’t care about that stuff. I cared about my men.”

But Zdancewicz began to think about the medals that he didn’t get about five years ago.

Working with the Veterans Assistance Commission of Will County, he was able to get one of three Purple Hearts in 2018. Then, in February, a second Purple Heart along with seven other medals arrived in an inconspicuous package that his wife found outside the front door.

“I came home, and I said, ‘Oh, his medicine is coming in a different package,” Linda Zdancewicz said. “I left it on the kitchen table for him and said, ‘You’ve got a package.’ ”

It was filled with the medals along with a letter dated Sept. 16, 2019, from the National Personnel Records Center telling Sonny Zdancewicz that it was “pleased to authorize shipment of the following awards”: the Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge 1st Award, Expert Badge, Sharpshooter Badge and Marksman Badge.

Sonny Zdancewicz shrugs off the fact that the third Purple Heart still has not been delivered, noting it may show up someday.

But the medals do mean something – after the passage of many years – that they could not have meant back in 1970.

“I’m happy for him,” Linda Zdancewicz said. “He’s finally got them in his possession. He can look at them and remember. I think he thinks of the men he met. The men mean more than the medals. But the medals remind him of the men.”

That’s so, Sonny Zdancewicz said.

“It reminds me of the men that I served with and all the men that didn’t come back,” he said. “That’s what it means to me.”

Now, Sonny Zdancewicz gets together with 7th Cavalry veterans from around the country for reunions. At one this month in Dayton, one of his commanding officers in Vietnam pinned one of his Purple Hearts on Sonny Zdancewicz.

Sonny Zdancewicz, now 74, devotes his life to helping younger veterans who fought in the wars that followed Vietnam and soldiers in the military now.

He gives talks around the country to active military members about the importance of getting copies of documents at the time they leave the service so they won’t have to hunt for them later, like he did when demonstrating his merit for the medals.

Sonny Zdancewicz also helps veterans closer to his home in Romeoville, telling them about assistance that is available from the Department of Veterans Affairs and driving them to VA clinics in Joliet and Maywood for medical care.

“You’d be surprised at the number of veterans who have never been there,” he said. “They don’t want anything to do with the military because they have [post-traumatic stress syndrome]. I can relate to them because I have PTSS. I find talking with them helps my PTSS.”

The VA helped Sonny Zdancewicz when he was 62 and lost his last job after he could no longer rely on his damaged hand to hold onto things. He wants younger veterans to see that they can turn to the VA too.

Sonny Zdancewicz is not the only veteran who had to try to prove his merit for the Purple Heart despite being wounded in war, said Erik Papineau, interim superintendent at the Veterans Assistance Commission of Will County.

In Sonny Zdancewicz’s case, the VAC was able to track down documentation showing his treatment for war wounds, but that’s not always possible, Papineau said.

“I think a lot of times in Vietnam the records weren’t created,” he said. “I know a lot of veterans who were wounded, and they said the doctors just patched them up and they went on their way.”

He described Sonny Zdancewicz’s situation as “one in a million.”

“He’s a great guy,” Papineau said. “I’m glad we were able to help him out.”