Category: Real Soldiers

We’ve been writing about Chuck Kettle’s Medal of Honor since last year. Today it happened that his Distinguished Service Cross was moved up a notch in the White House. TSO is there taking pictures for us and I’ve already informed the Secret Service of the danger that comes with him. I’ll update this post as I get more pictures, but here’s the first one;

Here is the citation for his DSC, which I imagine, won’t change much;

Major (Field Artillery) Charles S. Kettles (ASN: 0-1938018), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam, while serving with 176th Aviation Company (Airmobile) (Light), 14th Combat Aviation Battalion, Americal Division. Major Kettles distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 15 May 1967 while serving as aircraft commander of a helicopter supporting infantry operations near Duc Pho. An airborne Infantry unit had come under heavy enemy attack and had suffered casualties. Major Kettles immediately volunteered to carry reinforcements to the embattled force and evacuate their wounded from the battle site. Although friendly artillery had pounded the hostile positions, the enemy was well entrenched and fighting fiercely. Major Kettles led a flight of helicopters into the landing zone through a savage barrage. Small arms and automatic weapons fire raked the landing zone and inflicted heavy damage to the ships, but Major Kettles refused to leave the ground until all the craft were loaded to capacity. He then led them out of the battle area. He later returned to the battlefield with more reinforcements and landed in the midst of a rain of mortar and automatic weapons fire which wounded his gunner and ruptured his fuel tank. After leading more wounded aboard, he nursed the crippled craft back to his base. He then secured another ship and led a flight of six helicopters to extract the Infantry unit. All but eight men had been loaded when Major Kettles directed the flight to take off. Completely disregarding his safety, he maneuvered his lone craft through a savage enemy fusillade to where the remainder of the Infantrymen waited. Mortar fire blasted out his windshield, but he remained on the ground until the men were aboard. The enemy concentrated massive firepower on his helicopter and another mortar round badly damaged his tail boom, but he once more skillfully guided his heavily damaged ship to safety.

Our buddy, Captain Zachariah Fike, a Vermont National Guardsman and founder/CEO of Purple Hearts Reunited has been named Soldier of the Year by Army Times.

The prior-enlisted infantry officer is the officer strength manager for the Vermont National Guard’s recruiting and retention battalion. He commands the company responsible for Officer Candidate School in the state’s Regional Training Institute. The husband and father of two young children also is enrolled in the information operations course as part of his Intermediate Level Education.

[…]

“I don’t sleep,” Fike said. “This is probably the busiest I’ve been in my career.”

Fike, a Purple Heart recipient who has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, started down this road after his 2006 tour in Iraq.

I can’t even begin to tell you how tireless he is in that mission of his. I’m proud to count him among my real friends and you should, too.

From a local Vermont journalist;

Fike started on this path on Christmas 2009 when his mother, herself a former army drill sergeant, gave him a Purple Heart as a gift; she’d purchased it in an antique shop for $100.

“I’m a military collector,” Fike said in a 2014 interview, “but the Purple Heart is different, something that shouldn’t be bought and sold on the open market. It didn’t feel right to me to own it.”

After having returned from his own military deployment in Afghanistan in December 2010, Fike set out to reunite the gifted Purple Heart with its rightful owner. When he found himself receiving other Purple Hearts in the mail, he launched the nonprofit. Working entirely in his free time, mostly nights and on weekends, he has since reunited nearly 300 medals with their rightful owners or the owners’ family members.

Currently, PHR plans on reuniting 100 Purple Heart or Wound Certificates to the survivors of 100 World War I veterans before the 100th Anniversary of the US entry into that war.

Last October, we talked a bit about Lieutenant Colonel Charles Kettles and his Distinguished Service Cross being upgraded to the Medal of Honor. Today, we hear from the White House that the President will award Kettles the Medal on July 18th;

Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Kettles will receive the Medal of Honor for his actions while serving as a Flight Commander assigned to 176th Aviation Company (Airmobile) (Light), 14th Combat Aviation Battalion, Americal Division. Then-Major Kettles distinguished himself in combat operations near Duc Pho, Republic of Vietnam, on May 15, 1967. He led a platoon of UH-1Ds to provide support to the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, during an ambush by a battalion-sized enemy force. After leading several trips to the hot landing zone and evacuating the wounded, he returned, without additional aerial support, to rescue a squad-sized element of stranded soldiers pinned down by enemy fire. He is credited with saving the lives of 40 soldiers and four of his own crew members.

From his DSC citation;

…while serving with 176th Aviation Company (Airmobile) (Light), 14th Combat Aviation Battalion, Americal Division. Major Kettles distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 15 May 1967 while serving as aircraft commander of a helicopter supporting infantry operations near Duc Pho. An airborne Infantry unit had come under heavy enemy attack and had suffered casualties. Major Kettles immediately volunteered to carry reinforcements to the embattled force and evacuate their wounded from the battle site. Although friendly artillery had pounded the hostile positions, the enemy was well entrenched and fighting fiercely. Major Kettles led a flight of helicopters into the landing zone through a savage barrage. Small arms and automatic weapons fire raked the landing zone and inflicted heavy damage to the ships, but Major Kettles refused to leave the ground until all the craft were loaded to capacity. He then led them out of the battle area. He later returned to the battlefield with more reinforcements and landed in the midst of a rain of mortar and automatic weapons fire which wounded his gunner and ruptured his fuel tank. After leading more wounded aboard, he nursed the crippled craft back to his base. He then secured another ship and led a flight of six helicopters to extract the Infantry unit. All but eight men had been loaded when Major Kettles directed the flight to take off. Completely disregarding his safety, he maneuvered his lone craft through a savage enemy fusillade to where the remainder of the Infantrymen waited. Mortar fire blasted out his windshield, but he remained on the ground until the men were aboard. The enemy concentrated massive firepower on his helicopter and another mortar round badly damaged his tail boom, but he once more skillfully guided his heavily damaged ship to safety.

Devtun sends us a link to Military.com and the story of Sergeant First Class Richard Harris who was caught in an ambush with his special forces team sergeant Master Sgt. Danial “Slim” Adams;

Almost immediately, Adams took a burst of PKM fire — suffering wounds to his wrist, thigh and neck – and was thrown from his ATV within meters of the enemy line.

Harris recalled the area around them suddenly came to life with the sounds and flashes of close gunfire. “My mindset was, ‘Holy crap. We’re in deep trouble,’” he remembered.

“At the time, I didn’t know what happened,” Harris said. “I just saw him kind of dive off/fall off his ATV.”

Harris aborted his path and veered up a small hill to take cover between two buildings. Harris, under intense enemy fire, fired his M-4 rifle and grenade launcher at the enemy, all the while calling out to his team sergeant below.

Adams died of his wounds on that Sept. 13, 2011, but Harris spent the rest of the battle aggressively attacking the ambushing insurgents while guarding the body of his team sergeant at significant risk to his own life, according to the release.

The Army Times has a more detailed recitation of Harris’ actions that day that you should read.

CWORet sends us a link to the story of a pair of Army Sergeants First Class who happened to come across a bus accident on the George Washington Expressway near Fort Belvoir, Virginia the other day. The bus was packed full of Chinese tourists and it had turned on it’s side after skidding on the wet roadway. From the Washington Post;

Cooper said he ran to the back of the bus to throw open the rear door, but to his horror found it bolted.

Cooper returned to the bus hatch, helping the Coast Guard officer who by then had crawled insideto reach passengers and get them off.

But it would take more to free those remaining, Cooper said he eventually realized.

“We have to lift the bus up!” Cooper recalled shouting.

Cooper said he, the Coast Guard officer and two other men counted down and then heaved. The bus slid a couple of feet.

They positioned themselves again.

“This time it seemed like the bus didn’t weigh anything,” Cooper said.

Army Sgt. Gracie Vaughan said she arrived on the scene at that moment as the bus was righted, hearing it land back on its wheels with a thud.

“To me, it was amazing,” Vaughan said of the feat.

When asked how four men were able to lift the bus, the brawny Cooper was at a loss.

“Adrenaline,” he said. “Grace of God. I don’t know.”

Unfortunately, one passenger who had been under the bus passed on.

Cooper and Vaughan declined to call themselves heroes on Thursday.

“I just see it as doing what should be done,” Vaughan said.

I hate these stories. But, Bretagne, a Golden Retriever rescue dog who happened to be used at Ground Zero in New York City passed recently, the last of that group, according to Today.

Bretagne (pronounced “Brittany”), a whip-smart golden retriever with feathery fur and a sunny smile, lived an adventure-packed life until the very end. In recent weeks, though, she began experiencing kidney failure and slowing down. When Bretagne failed to do her favorite thing for three consecutive days — eat — her owner Denise Corliss realized it was time to say goodbye.

“She was really anxious last night and she just wanted to be with me,” Corliss told TODAY on Monday. “So I laid down with her, right next to her. When she could feel me, she could settle down and go to sleep. I slept with her like that all night.”

Thanks to Jon the Mechanic for the link.

AverageNCO made this documentary about a hometown hero – Homer Cole, a World War II pilot who came home to college and he played for the Pittsburgh State Gorillas. He goes to every game to this day, even though he’s 90 years old. Here’s 13 minutes of Homer.