|
Posted on 12/19/2004 8:39:56 AM PST by snippy_about_it
|
|
 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
|
| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
|
 Michael E. Thorton and Thomas R. Norris Congressional Medal of Honor  BIOGRAPHY b. March 23, 1949 Michael Edwin Thornton was born in Greenville, South Carolina and raised on the family farm near Spartanburg. Thornton joined the Navy upon graduating from high school in 1967 and completed the rigorous training to join the SEALs, the Navy's elite sea-air-land special operations force. As overall American conventional forces were gradually withdrawn from Vietnam in the early 1970s, the "unconventional warfare" role of Navy SEALs grew. In the spring of 1972, Petty Officer Thornton was assigned to a mission under the command of Lt. Thomas Norris. Thornton and Norris accompanied a three-man South Vietnamese Navy team on an intelligence gathering mission in enemy-held territory. Launched from a Vietnamese Navy junk in a rubber boat, the patrol reached land and found themselves far behind enemy lines than they had planned. Continuing on foot toward their objective, they came under heavy fire from a far larger force and were in danger of being surrounded. While inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy, they headed for the shore, in hopes of escaping by sea.  On learning that Lt. Norris had been hit by enemy fire and was believed to be dead, Thornton returned through a hail of fire to the lieutenant's last position and found him severely wounded and unconscious but alive. Quickly disposing of two enemy soldiers who approached at that moment, Thornton slung Norris over his shoulder and dashed for life over 400 yards of open beach, returning enemy fire as he ran. He carried Norris and another wounded comrade out to sea, beyond the range of enemy fire. The company floated for approximately two hours before being retrieved by the South Vietnamese Navy. Michael Thornton was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor on October 15, 1973. He is the first person in more than a century to receive that honor for saving the life of another Medal of Honor recipient. Now retired after a distinguished Navy career that continued through Operation Desert Storm, he resides near Houston, Texas.      |
Noon time bump for the Sunday Freeper Foxhole.
I wish to address the claim by the lovely and gracious bentfeather that I started this Christmas cartoon posting.
DID NOT!!!
See here...http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-vetscor/1299128/posts?q=1&&page=67
HaHA here is the first one posted by bentfeather back on 12/11/04. SO THERE
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Another humorous but sad commentary on the Christmas season in todays times. Nothing but lighthearted ones for thew rest of the week. ;-)
Weather report for Kansas City, it is 16F in Downtown KC witha wind chill of 7F, brrr. The weather guessers are forecasting around 0 for the end of the week and maybe some snow flurries. I just hope I don't have to shvel 6 to 8 inches of flurries Christmas Eve.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
free dixie HUGS,duckie/sw
Good morning shield.
Good morning Mayor. FR was down last night when I tried to post our thread. Finally I gave up and went to bed, slept late so had to post late. :-)
Good morning feather.
Good morning EGC.
You don't know how glad I am to not be going through that type of weather this year. :-)
Don't you just love how things get started in the Foxhole and become tradition?
That's alright, I got mixed up when I saw the dates on the thread I posted coffee on. It had the correst dates, just wrong year, I didn't realize FR was down. I was in bed.
You know snippy, in spite of all the cold, the wind, the snow, etc., I love it!
Of course, I don't have to drive in it, nor do I go out a lot in winter.
Gotta be that Finn blood!! LOL
The cartoon is so true. Sad the left and PC people have destroyed so much in America.
So the fight goes on.
Hey now...
On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on December 19:
1036 Su Tung-p'o China, poet/essayist/painter/calligrapher
1683 Philip V, Versailles France, King of Spain (1700-24, 24-46)
1790 Sir William Parry England, Arctic explorer
1814 Edwin M[cMasters] Stanton, Ohio, US Secretary of War (1861-65)
1817 James Jay Archer Brigadier-General (Confederate Army) died in 1864
1819 James Clifford Veatch Brevet Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1895
1849 Henry Clay Frick, Penn, built world's largest coke & steel operation
1868 Novelist Eleanor Porter ("Pollyanna")
1894 Ford Frick (baseball: Commissioner of Baseball)
1902 Sir Ralph Richardson (Actor)
1906 Leonid I Brezhnev, Ukraine, 1st Secretary of USSR (1964-82)
1910 French dramatist JeanGenet,criminal/novelist/dramatist)
1915 Edith Piaf, [E Giovanna Gassion], Paris, chanteuse
1920 David Susskind (TV producer)
1925 'Little' Jimmy Dickens (Country Music Hall of Famer)
1926 Jeanne Kirkpatrick US ambassador to UN
1934 Al Kaline (baseball: Detroit Tigers)
1935 Tony Taylor (baseball: Philadelphia Phillies)
1939 Cicely Tyson (actress)
1940 Phil Ochs (folk singer, songwriter)
1944 Alvin Lee (musician: group: Ten Years After)
1944 Richard Leakey, anthropologist
1946 Robert Urich (actor)
1946 Stan Smith (tennis: Men's Singles Wimbledon Champion [1972] and Amateur U.S. Open Champion [1969])
1949 Claudia Kolb (U.S. Olympic Gold swimmer)
1966 Alberto "La Bomba" Tomba, Italian skier (Olympic-gold-1988, 92)
BAT-21
In one of the most bizarre rescues of the Vietnam War, Lt. Col. Iceal Hambleton was recovered from enemy territory in northern South Vietnam after 11 1/2 days on the ground. This was the largest rescue operation in USAF History. On Easter Sunday, April 2, 1972, Col. Hambleton was flying as navigator in an EB-66 electronic counter-measures aircraft (callsign Bat-21). When the aircraft was struck by a surface-to-air missile (SAM), he was the only man to eject safely, landing near a busy highway junction on a Communist supply route. Intelligence sources reported the area contained 30,000 enemy troops. (While initially awaiting rescue, Hambleton directed USAF aircraft which destroyed many enemy vehicles on the highways.) Intense ground fire prevented the first attempts to rescue him. A plan was devised to direct him by radio contact with a forward air controller (FAC) aircraft to a safer pick-up point. USAF reconnaissance aircraft photographed the area and photo analysts laid out a course for him to follow to a river two miles away. Hambleton, an avid golfer, remembered in great detail various golf courses where he had played. To guide him safely past enemy camps, gun emplacements, and unfriendly villages and then downstream to a rescue point, specific holes at certain courses were used to establish distance and direction of travel for each segment of his journey.
Traveling only at night, he reached the tenth day, exhausted and with nothing to eat or drink since bailout except several ears of corn and rainwater. Floating downstream, at the last "hole" he was met by a Navy SEAL (SEa-Air-Land) Lt. Thomas R. Norris and a Vietnamese Ranger who had stolen a boat. Despite several enemy ambushes, they delivered Hambleton to a waiting USAF helicopter which took off under enemy fire. Hambleton's experience was the basis for a book and a movie, but neither portrayed the complexity of the operation, the exotic technology or number of people involved in the rescue. 234 medals were awarded to individuals for this rescue and Lt. Norris received the Medal of Honor for his role in this and a related rescue.
Displayed on the mannequin (in the Museum's actual rescue gallery) are the baseball cap, monocular, and glasses which Col. Hambleton had with him when rescued. His original flight suit was taken from him in the hospital for laundering, but he was transferred before it was returned. The URC-64 survival radio was his most important survival item. He was enthusiastic about how well it worked despite submersion in water and other hardships. The framed photomontage was composed of reconnaissance photos and was used to plan the escape route, since there were no usable maps of the area. The plaque was given to him by the commander, 42nd Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron in memory of the EB-66 crew members who died.
(Donated by Lt. Col. Iceal Hambleton, USAF (Ret), Tucson, Arizona)
hERO BUMP!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
