This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Real Soldiers

  • Ranger Regiment to Honor EOD Soldier

    SPC Samuel Crockett, assigned to the 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives Command, will be awarded the Silver Star today at For Benning, GA.  He will receive the award for his actions on 5 October 2013 in Zharay District (west of Kandahar), Afghanistan.

    He was recommended for the award by personnel from the 75th Ranger Regiment.  Why, you ask?  Read for yourself. You’ll be awed, moved – and incredibly proud of this young man.

    Well done, SPC Crockett.  This old soldier salutes you.

  • About That USAFR Lt Col With A CIB . . . .

    Multiple TAH commenters have raised questions about the guy in this photo:


     

    The man in the photo is the late Lt Col Paul A. Bailey, USAFR (Ret).  He passed away last year.  You’ve probably heard about him from this (or a similar) article.

    The specific question most had about him was, “A CIB??  In the USAFR?  What the . . . ?”

    It turns out the guy’s CIB is in fact legit.

    Prior to entering the USAFR, Bailey served in the US Army – in the 82nd Airborne.  He was among those deployed to the Dominican Republic in 1965, and was awarded the CIB there.  The FOIA reply from NPRC regarding his Army records can be viewed here.

    Whether his CIB is authorized for wear on the USAF uniform he’s wearing in the picture is a question someone with a USAF background will have to answer; my background was Army, so I’m not up on the “ins and outs” of what sister-service badges/decorations/badges are and are not authorized for wear on USAF uniforms.   But unlike many fakes and frauds we see here, this man’s CIB  is  legitimate.

    It’s kinda nice to see a “corner-case” claim turn out to be the truth for a change.  I think that now makes about 3 such “corner-case” claims I’ve seen turn out to be legit in the last 2 years.

    Rest in peace, Lt Col Paul A. Bailey.  You’ve earned it – honorably.

  • Doug Hegdahl; The incredibly stupid one

    douglashegdahl

    Mary sends us a link to “Cherries – A Vietnam War Novel” and a story written by Vietnam veteran and a POW, Dick “Beak” Stratton, Retired US Navy Captain about a sailor by the name of SN Doug Hegdahl. It seems that one night SN Hegdahl was pulling watch at oh-dark-thirty while his ship, the USS Canberra was shelling North Vietnam and he missed the part of his training about walking around above decks while the crews were firing their big guns. The concussion knocked him overboard and he floated around for 12 hours until some local fishermen pulled him from the briny.

    Captain Stratton goes on with the story about how Hegdahl convinced his captors that he wasn’t very bright and they nicknamed him “the incredibly stupid one”. How Hegdahl memorized the names of every US POW held in Vietnam and details about their lives that would convince family members of his veracity. How Hegdahl disabled five North Vietnamese trucks. And how the North Vietnamese concluded that his early release would do them no harm, until they did release him – Stratton had to order Hegdahl to comply with the early release, by the way.

    It’s a very long story, but every word is worth the read.

    The 256 names he had memorized contained many names that our government did not have. He ended up being sent to Paris by Ross Perot to confront the North Vietnamese Peace Talk Delegation about the fate of the Missing in Action. He entered the Civil Service and is today a Survival School instructor for the U.S. Navy and the James B. Stockdale Survival, Evasion, Resistance, And Escape Center (SERE), naval Air Station, North Island, Coronado, California. And yes, he can still recite those names!

    doug-hegdahl

  • Admiral Jeremiah Denton passes

    Jeremiah Denton

    SJ sends us a link to the sad news that Admiral Jeremiah Andrew Denton has passed at the ripe young age of 89. More than seven years of his life were spent in a Vietnamese prison. From Wiki;

    Denton served as United States Naval Aviator during the Vietnam War and was the Commanding Officer (CO) of Attack Squadron Seventy-Five (VA-75) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Independence (CVA 62). On 18 July 1965, then-Commander Denton, was leading twenty-eight planes flying an A-6A Intruder (Bureau Number 151577), off the Independence on a bombing mission with Lieutenant Bill Tschudy, his navigator/bombardier. Their jet was shot down over the city of Thanh Hoa in North Vietnam, and they were captured and taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese.

    The rest of the story of his captivity is in his citation for his Navy Cross;

    The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Rear Admiral [then Commander] Jeremiah Andrew Denton, Jr. (NSN: 0-485087), United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism while serving as a Prisoner of War in North Vietnam from February 1966 to May 1966. Under constant pressure from North Vietnamese interrogators and guards, Rear Admiral Denton experienced harassment, intimidation and ruthless treatment in their attempt to gain military information and cooperative participation for propaganda purposes. During this prolonged period of physical and mental agony, he heroically resisted cruelties and continued to promulgate resistance policy and detailed instructions. Forced to attend a press conference with a Japanese correspondent, he blinked out a distress message in Morse Code at the television camera and was understood by United States Naval Intelligence. When this courageous act was reported to the North Vietnamese, he was again subjected to severe brutalities. Displaying extraordinary skill, fearless dedication to duty, and resourcefulness, he reflected great credit upon himself, and upheld the highest traditions of the Naval Service and the United States Armed Forces.

    Rear Admiral Denton wrote a book in 1976 titled “When Hell was in Session” about his captivity which became a movie. He was also a Senator from Alabama 1981-1987, the first admiral to become a Senator and the first Republican from Alabama since Reconstruction. he lost in his reelection bid to Richard Shelby. In 2007, his wife preceded him in death after 61 years of marriage.

  • 2LT James Lamoreaux; saving the world

    jerry920 sends us a link to WTVM which tells the story of 2LT James Lamoreaux who was walking with his wife along the Chattahoochee River in Columbus, GA, when they saw a commotion;

    “The crowd was pointing at this little boy drifting down the river. He was yelling help. At that time, it gained my attention,” said Lamoreaux, “I made my way down the rocks and plunged in. Thankfully the current was strong enough where it was keeping me going straight towards him.”

    If Lamoreaux didn’t jump in when he did, fire officials said the fast current combined with the cold temperature of the water would have probably been too much for the 9-year-old and his 15-year-old friend to overcome.

    “Once we got past a certain rock, there was nothing else beyond that, other than the steps that were about 200 meters away,” he said. “I swam towards him, and thankfully, by the grace of God, I was able to get him and hold onto the rock.”

    WTVM.com-Columbus, GA News Weather

  • LCpl. Tad Steadman; saving the world

    LCPL Tad Steadman

    From the Beaufort Gazette comes the story of Lance Corporal Tad Steadman who is credited with risking his own life to save more than 20 people from an apartment fire last month;

    Steadman said he had noticed a small fire on a second-floor balcony, but Hassan told him the fire was in a contained pit. A few minutes later, he turned back toward the building to find the fire had spread to the furniture and was making its way up the building.

    Steadman yelled for Hassan to call 911 and began sprinting toward the building to the apartment where the fire had started.

    “I started banging on the door, and a woman answered,” he said. “She was dazed, didn’t know what was going on, but she realized once she saw the fire.”

    He and Hassan went door-to-door in the building, knocking on doors to get people out of the burning apartment. The two stayed in the building until the conditions drove them out.

    “I only stopped once I couldn’t go any farther,” Steadman said. “I couldn’t see above me, and parts of the ceiling were falling down. If I had gone any further, I would’ve been overcome by smoke. I just hoped we had got to everyone in time.”

    The fire ended up destroying 12 apartments. Steadman and Hassan (an Army veteran) had alerted 23 people through their heroic acts. Only one woman was treated for smoke inhalation – the only casualty of the fire. Hassan and Steadman were honored with an award for bravery by the community.

  • Medal of Honor Ceremony today at White House

    Twenty-four folks will be awarded a Medal of Honor today, only three of the recipients are still with us. According to the White House, the ceremony will take place at 3:40 PM (1540 hours for some of you). That’s where TSO is today and he’s promised us some live photos. The Army has a nice little page with the names and biographies of each of the recipients.

    I’ve embedded the live stream video below, so tune in here to watch and maybe we’ll have some pictures from TSO by then. If he can get his Irish ass out of bed before 3:40 PM.

  • LT Josh Pitcher returns to Afghanistan

    Stars & Stripes tells the story of 1LT Josh Pitcher who was wounded nearly two years ago and lost his leg. He’s is training to go back as a platoon leader in the 82d Airborne Division;

    After the incident, his life spiraled out of control, he said. But just over a year and a half later, Pitcher put that fear on the back burner as he climbed back through the ranks, earning the U.S. Army’s Expert Infantry Badge — something not easily obtained even by soldiers with two legs.

    Then he requalified as a paratrooper, completing multiple combat jumps with his new prosthetic leg. Now he’s back with the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, serving in Afghanistan’s Regional Command-North.