Author: Jonn Lilyea

AZ Central reports that Roy Hawthorne, Sr, a Navajo Code Talker during the war in the Pacific against Japan has passed at the age of 92.

Hawthorne was 17 when he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and became part of a famed group of Native Americans who encoded hundreds of messages in the Navajo language to keep them safe from the Japanese. Hawthorne served in the 1st Marine Division in the Pacific Theatre and was promoted to corporal.

The code was never broken.

“The longer we live, the more we realize the importance of what we did, but we’re still not heroes — not in my mind,” Roy Hawthorne said in 2015.

But Hawthorne’s son, Regan Hawthorne, said Monday his father leaves a proud legacy.

“They went in out of a sense of duty and a spirit of responsibility to their country,” Regan Hawthorne said, adding he didn’t know about his father’s military service until he was in his 20s.

Hawthorne was a “second generation” of code talkers, the last of the original code talkers passed about four years ago.

During the Korean War, Hawthorne enlisted in the US Army.

The Army Times reports that a memorial to helicopter crews of the Vietnam War was dedicated at Arlington National Cemetery last week.

As the crowd gathered around the monument, “Taps” rang out among the cemetery, and the thudding of distant helicopters caused attendees to wonder out loud if Hueys were about to appear on the horizon.

Over the tops of the trees in Arlington, four helicopters from Marine Helicopter Squadron One — which transports the president — flew over as the crowd clapped and cheered.

“This [monument] is something we’ve been waiting for a long, long time,” said Michael Mikulan, who flew helicopters in Vietnam in 1969. “For many of us here who are 70 and above, this is it. We couldn’t ask for anything more.”

My uncle was a helicopter crew chief in Vietnam 1966 – 1967 and he came home to us safely. 2,197 helicopter pilots and 2,717 crew members were killed

“Vietnam soldiers were rejected by society when they came back. They were blamed for the war along with the politicians who created policy,” he told Army Times. “All of the [troops] in the modern era, for at least the last 15 years … have benefited because now people are able to see a warrior and know it’s okay to hate war but love the warrior.”

The Denver Post tells the World War II story of Armand Sedgeley and the more contemporary story of John Fine, a diver and photographer who discovered the wreckage of Sedegely’s B-17 bomber in the water off the coast of Corsica. The B17 had been damaged by German fighters and limped towards the British airbase on Corsica, but the pilot had to ditch because the airstrip wouldn’t accommodate the massive bomber. The crew members that survived the attack were rescued by the British soon after the bomber sank where it was discovered by Fine decades later.

Fine began searching for survivors and was finally able to meet Sedgeley;

When Fine learned that some others had received the Silver Star for their heroism in combat that day, he broached the subject. Sedgeley said his squadron leader had put him in for the honor, but it didn’t get approved — although two gunners among the crew were recognized. He heard no explanation.

“All I know is we all did our best and it was recognized by the squadron, but from there on, I have no information, and they can’t seem to locate the Silver Star orders,” Sedgeley said. “So it is a mystery. I don’t understand it.”

Unbeknown to Sedgeley until recently, Fine has pursued the honor on his behalf. He said that through archives and Sedgeley’s own flight diary, he discovered information that wouldn’t have been part of the original narrative — information that might trigger a reconsideration. “Busy commanders could not have had all the information available now or they surely would have awarded this 22-year-old hero his Silver Star,” he wrote in his appeal to government officials.

Fine said he sought help from Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner’s office to expedite the process, although Gardner’s spokesman said that policy prohibits commenting on such casework.

So now, they wait.

“I think it’s most unusual for a person to go to the expense he’s gone to, to get a medal without even being involved,” Sedgeley said. “I didn’t know he was doing it for a long time.”

Of course, I left out a lot of the story so I don’t steal from the Denver Post, but you should read the entire article.