MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — It’s not often a veteran who’s been retired for 30 years gets a new medal from the U.S Army.
1 injured, 1 dead after 2 shootings roughly an hour apart in the same Mobile neighborhood
Only about 5,000 soldiers in the United States Army have been awarded the Master Combat Infantry Badge and Pat Downing is one of them. He was honored last month, among friends and fellow vets, at the American Legion Hall on Halls Mill Road in Mobile.
“I was infantry and special forces most of the time that I was in the Army,” Downing said. “And I’ve got a warm spot in my heart for infantry soldiers. I wear this blue infantry cord. And so when the badge became available, I said ‘why not?’ even though I’ve been retired for 30 years.”
Downing, a Mobile native, earned the qualifications during his time in the Army, which started as an enlisted man in special forces serving a year-long tour in Vietnam in 1966. He came back to the States and went through officers training school and then went back to Vietnam in 1969 as a lieutenant commanding a rifle platoon and later a company in the 82nd Airborne…