A bill to provide for eligibility for veterans of Operation End Sweep for the Vietnam Service Medal.
Key claim: S2370 would make veterans who participated in Operation End Sweep eligible to receive the Vietnam Service Medal upon application.
Abstract
(S2370 · 119th Congress) This bill provides eligibility for the Vietnam Service Medal to veterans who participated in Operation End Sweep and submit an application. (Operation End Sweep was a mission to clear mines from Haiphong harbor and surrounding areas after the Vietnam war concluded.) Latest action (2025-07-22): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.
Why this matters
Operation End Sweep was the U.S. Navy’s 1973 mine-clearance mission in North Vietnamese waters conducted after the Paris Peace Accords, and its participants have historically fallen outside the Vietnam Service Medal eligibility window. S.2370 is a narrow, low-cost recognition measure that would extend the medal on an application basis without creating new benefits or program authorities, making its fiscal footprint negligible while resolving a long-standing veterans-recognition gap.