A Day for Heroes (Medal of Honor Winners)

Sailor John Finn manned an exposed a.50-caliber machinegun at Pearl Harbor. Wounded many times by strafing Japanese planes, he stayed at his post returning fire with telling effect.

He is World War II’s first Medal of Honor recipient. He is with us at 98, and is one of only 105 living men who earned our nation’s highest tribute for valor under fire.

Today, as our country marks the first anniversary of National Medal of Honor Day, the date the first medals were awarded during the Civil War, I and the other living recipients are humbled by this remembrance. We thank the nation and welcome this day on behalf of the 3,446 before us and the untold others who will follow.

Each of us has a story of valor. Each of us had a different reason at that moment or days of courage – but remarkably it is also the same underlying reason.

Our reason was to defend and help the other man in the foxhole, on the ridge, in the boat, the ship, the fighter plane, the bomber, the helicopter – and some of us for unflinching courage and leadership as prisoners of war, one of whom was Vice Admiral James Stockdale, one of the most highly decorated officers in the Navy’s history, who passed in July 2005.

We wear the Medal of Honor for those who served at our sides and died bravely in defense of our nation.

We are ordinary men. We come from across the nation, from different social backgrounds, different occupations and professions, different religions, different races, different political philosophies.

But we have four things in common – putting another ahead of ourselves, represented by the Medal of Honor, a devotion to freedom, a love of country, and a humbleness that surprises those we meet.

As members of the Medal of Honor Society we meet a lot of people. Our role is to reach out to our nation’s youth, to explain to them patriotism and the nature of heroism. That nature is selflessness, and we are as proud of that as we are of the Medal of Honor we wear. In our travels we talk to students, and we can tell you the future of our nation is in good hands.

We see selflessness every day in the deeds of men and women who wear our nation’s uniforms, who are at this minute sacrificing and serving our nation valiantly.

Two of them, Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham and Lt. Michael Murphy, a Navy Seal, exhibited selflessness defending their comrades in Iraq and Afghanistan and joined the society posthumously in 2007.

They, like many others, fought and gave their lives because they were there, because it was, to them, the thing to do at the moment.

National Medal of Honor Day is not a celebration. It is a solemn time to remember not only those of us who received the Medal of Honor but also a time to reflect on the freedom we enjoy and its price.

To keep things relevant, here's John Finn's MOH Citation:

FINN, JOHN WILLIAM

Rank and organization: Lieutenant, U.S. Navy. Place and date: Naval Air Station, Kaneohe Bay, Territory of Hawaii, 7 December 1941. Entered service at: California. Born: 23 July 1909, Los Angeles, Calif. Citation: For extraordinary heroism distinguished service, and devotion above and beyond the call of duty. During the first attack by Japanese airplanes on the Naval Air Station, Kaneohe Bay, on 7 December 1941, Lt. Finn promptly secured and manned a .50-caliber machinegun mounted on an instruction stand in a completely exposed section of the parking ramp, which was under heavy enemy machinegun strafing fire. Although painfully wounded many times, he continued to man this gun and to return the enemy's fire vigorously and with telling effect throughout the enemy strafing and bombing attacks and with complete disregard for his own personal safety. It was only by specific orders that he was persuaded to leave his post to seek medical attention. Following first aid treatment, although obviously suffering much pain and moving with great difficulty, he returned to the squadron area and actively supervised the rearming of returning planes. His extraordinary heroism and conduct in this action were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

Free Republic got a hat tip on this over at National Review's Corner blog.

Heroes Of Our Day. Of Our Time, Really [Michael Ledeen]

Today is National Medal of Honor Day. In a letter to his local newspaper, Medal of Honor holder Michael Thornton reminds us of the qualities of such men:

Each of us has a story of valor. Each of us had a different reason at that moment or days of courage – but remarkably it is also the same underlying reason.

Our reason was to defend and help the other man in the foxhole, on the ridge, in the boat, the ship, the fighter plane, the bomber, the helicopter – and some of us for unflinching courage and leadership as prisoners of war, one of whom was Vice Admiral James Stockdale, one of the most highly decorated officers in the Navy’s history, who passed in July 2005.

We wear the Medal of Honor for those who served at our sides and died bravely in defense of our nation.

Every one of these men is amazing, and we spend too little time thinking about their stories, and much too much time parsing sermons from crackpot racists in Chicago. Here's Thornton's story, for example:

Thornton, as Assistant U.S. Navy Advisor, along with a U.S. Navy lieutenant serving as Senior Advisor, accompanied a 3-man Vietnamese Navy SEAL patrol on an intelligence gathering and prisoner capture operation against an enemy-occupied naval river base. Launched from a Vietnamese Navy junk in a rubber boat, the patrol reached land and was continuing on foot toward its objective when it suddenly came under heavy fire from a numerically superior force. The patrol called in naval gunfire support and then engaged the enemy in a fierce firefight, accounting for many enemy casualties before moving back to the waterline to prevent encirclement. Upon learning that the Senior Advisor had been hit by enemy fire and was believed to be dead, PO Thornton returned through a hail of fire to the lieutenant's last position; quickly disposed of 2 enemy soldiers about to overrun the position, and succeeded in removing the seriously wounded and unconscious Senior Naval Advisor to the water's edge. He then inflated the lieutenant's lifejacket and towed him seaward for approximately 2 hours until picked up by support craft. By his extraordinary courage and perseverance, PO Thornton was directly responsible for saving the life of his superior officer and enabling the safe extraction of all patrol members, thereby upholding the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

Take a few minutes today to have a look at the stories of these heroes. It does wonders for the spirit, and it's great for our kids, too.

h/t: Free Republic

03/26 11:28 AM

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NWIwOGExY2NhMDEwOTlmZGRjYWE0MjZjYzg0NjU2OTY=

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