Posted on 02/11/2007 8:28:39 PM PST by The Mayor
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T.G.I.F. at the Finest |
Every Thursday at the Finest  |
"History of the POW/MIA Flag"
In 1971, Mrs. Michael Hoff, an MIA wife and member of the National League of Families, recognized the need for a symbol of our POW/MIAs. Prompted by an article in the Jacksonville, Florida Times-Union, Mrs. Hoff contacted Norman Rivkees, Vice President of Annin & Company which had made a banner for the newest member of the United Nations, the People's Republic of China, as a part of their policy to provide flags to all United Nations members states. Mrs. Hoff found Mr. Rivkees very sympathetic to the POW/MIA issue, and he, along with Annin's advertising agency, designed a flag to represent our missing men. Following League approval, the flags were manufactured for distribution.
On March 9, 1989, an official League flag, which flew over the White House on 1988 National POW/MIA Recognition Day, was installed in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda as a result of legislation passed overwhelmingly during the 100th Congress. In a demonstration of bipartisan Congressional support, the leadership of both Houses hosted the installation ceremony.
The League's POW/MIA flag is the only flag ever displayed in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda where it will stand as a powerful symbol of national commitment to America's POW/MIAs until the fullest possible accounting has been achieved for U.S. personnel still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.
On August 10, 1990, the 101st Congress passed U.S. Public Law 101-355, which recognized the League's POW/MIA flag and designated it "as the symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, thus ending the uncertainty for their families and the Nation".
excerted
Excellent pic Billie, Thank you.
Amen DD on both posts...
Thank you.
WOW.. Thank you Dubya.
I will.. I have gained a little more support in Albany..
I helped a couple assemblymen get elected so more allies on our side.
I just looked at the mail I sent you and I see I forgot to add a link to a brand new page I have been building. I will mail it to you right now...
Thank you. Texas Songwriter is a talented man! He is the artist who wrote and sang the song.
He is really good.
World War II hero finally gets Distinguished Flying
By CINDY HORSWELL
Houston Chronicle
MOSS BLUFF — Seated in his easy chair at his log house in Liberty County, Robert Bricker recalled the two years he spent as a World War II navigator guiding a bomber on 50 combat missions through anti-aircraft gunfire that was exploding everywhere like popcorn.
Only four of the 17 original planes from his 829th Squadron survived to the end of the war. Some crewmen from the four planes also never made it home — including a gunner and bombardier from Bricker's own crew.
Bricker, 85, has watched more than six decades pass since he left the U.S. Army Air Corps. His hair has turned white, his wife has died and two great-grandchildren have been born.
Yet a prestigious medal — the Distinguished Flying Cross — that he earned during the war was just recently awarded to him. Tears streaked down his face when a three-star general presented him with the bronze cross that hangs from a red, white and blue ribbon Jan. 27, the day the Liberty County seat declared it "First Lt. Robert M. Bricker Jr. Day."
Military authorities blamed the 63-year delay on mass confusion as soldiers returned home at the end of the war, bureaucratic red tape and a fire that destroyed military records.
A place on the wall
Years ago, Bricker might have pinned the medal onto his uniform. But he was skinny then and only his cap still fits him today. The medal and citation will instead have to be mounted on his wall, said his daughter, Patty Williamson. Several stuffed heads of deer, a Brahman cow and other animals peer down from the walls of his house.
Nowadays, Bricker's fading memories — which he says seem "like a dream now"— are the main thing that keep him going, said his daughter. One recollection was how he'd earned but never received that air medal. It is awarded to those who distinguish themselves by heroism or extraordinary achievement.
Some of the famed past recipients have been Charles A. Lindbergh for his transatlantic flight, Commander Richard E. Byrd for his North Pole flight and the Wright brothers for the first powered flight. Since flying combat missions over enemy territory in World War II was so hazardous, any airman who survived 50 missions was also awarded the medal.
"I'd often talk to my family about how I'd never gotten my medal. But after so many years passed, I'd about given up hope," Bricker said.
Bricker said one reason for the delay might have been caused by his being separated from his original crew members just before they completed their 50 missions and were sent home. Bricker still needed to fly one more mission when he contracted "sand-fly fever," a parasitic disease that airmen sometimes get when bitten by infected sand flies while sleeping outdoors in tents.
He experienced a high fever and had to be treated for the illness at a North African hospital for several weeks. Then he returned to active duty to fly his last mission.
"My superior officer didn't want me to get killed after being so close to going home, so he made me wait for a less dangerous trip that we called a 'milk run,' " he said of his last flight to drop bombs over Vienna.
Most of his other flights as a navigator, however, had been risky ventures over enemy-occupied territory in Europe — including 11 missions over the heavily defended Ploiesti oil fields in Romania that were a critical source of fuel for the Nazi war machine.
"There was so much flak coming at us from the ground that we had to fly through. The Germans were pretty good shots from their ME 109 fighters, too," said Bricker, who navigated by maps and the stars before global positioning systems existed.
His plane once was barely able to sputter back to the base after his gunner was fatally shot.
On another occasion, his pilot, Charles Duecker, who lives near Dallas, was wounded and recalls saying, "I can't see where we're going" and then turned to Bricker and said "get us back home," said Liberty County Tax Assessor Collector Mark McClelland.
Bricker never grabbed the flight controls, but he led the crew home with his expert navigation skills.
Deadline had passed
When all the chaos surrounding the war ended, Bricker later realized that he never received his medal. The military then had a rule that provided only a two-year window in which to correct such an error and that deadline had passed.
"Most of the problem was the result of paper errors and the difficulties trying to find people after the war," said Staff Sgt. Charles Holland at the U.S. Air Force Personnel headquarters.
Then in 1996, Congress decided those in the military deserved any recognition that they earned and allowed them to reapply. Bricker's daughter immediately e-mailed President Clinton and was referred to the Department of Records. That was when she learned the records at a military personnel center in St. Louis had been destroyed by fire in 1973, and she did not know where else to turn.
Tracked down pilot
Last summer, she mentioned the medal troubles to McClelland, who is now on active duty as a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserves.
McClelland tracked down Bricker's pilot and verified Bricker's service. McClelland also learned Bricker had a letter of detachment that cited the medal. Then all it took was knowing what forms to notarize and fill out to correct the records, McClelland said.
Bricker can now proudly show off his medal like the brass buckle that holds up his pants. He received the buckle as a lifetime member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on its 50th anniversary in 1982.
The medal, he said, just took a lot longer to get.
cindy.horswell@chron.com
Robert Bricker of Moss Bluff served 50 combat missions as an Army Air Corps navigator during World War II. Although he was up for the Distinguished Flying Cross at the end of his service, the award never came. " ... After so many years passed, I'd about given up hope," he says.
Yes, he is. He has been working on a new CD, which I hope to hear one of these days!
Good Night everyone.. Thank you for another great Military Monday!
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