ATTA GIRL!!
We never fretted too much on missions because we knew the PJ's would be there for us if we ever went down.
Mustard
A1C William H. Pitsenbarger
Airman 1st Class William H. Pitsenbarger has had his posthumously awarded Air Force Cross upgraded to the Medal of Honor. The Medal of Honor was presented to his father by the Secretary of the Air Force, on 8 December 2000, at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
On April 11th, 1966, 21-year old A1C William H. Pitsenbarger of Piqua, Ohio was killed while defending some of his wounded comrades. For his bravery and sacrifice, he was posthumously awarded the nation's second highest military decoration, the Air Force Cross.
"Pits", as he was known to his friends, was nearing his 300th combat mission on that fateful day when some men of the U.S. Army's 1st Division were ambushed and pinned down in an area about 45 miles east of Saigon. Two HH-43 "Huskie" helicopters of the USAF's 38th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron were rushed to the scene to lift out the wounded. Pits was a pararescueman (PJ) on one of them. Upon reaching the site of the ambush, Pits was lowered through the trees to the ground where he attended to the wounded before having them lifted to the helicopter by cable. After six wounded men had been flown to an aid station, the two USAF helicopters returned for their second loads. As one of them lowered its litter basket to Pitsenbarger, who had remained on the ground with the 20 infantrymen still alive, it was hit by a burst of enemy small-arms fire. When its engine began to lose power, the pilot realized he had to get the Huskie away from the area as soon as possible. Instead of climbing into the litter basket so he could leave with the helicopter, Pits elected to remain with the Army troops under enemy attack and he gave a "wave-off" to the helicopter which flew away to safety.
Pits continued to treat the wounded and, when the others began running low on ammunition, he gathered ammo clips from the dead and distributed them to those still alive. Then, he joined the others with a rifle to hold off the Viet Cong. About 7:30 PM that evening, Bill Pitsenbarger was killed by Viet Cong snipers. When his body was recovered the next day, one hand still held a rifle and the other a medical kit.
A1C William H. Pitsenbarger, was a PJ who participated in more than 300 rescue missions. In Vietnam, PJs --all volunteers-- earned more decorations per capita than any other group of USAF personnel.
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WVNan. . . our Country and FreeRepublic are better places because of folks like you. Thanks for all you do.
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God Bless America, land of the free, home of the brave. . .
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StealthDog
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Enjoy your day in the spotlight.
Nan, great job on a living an inspiring life and giving so much back, much more than you were given.
Congrats!!
Stay safe; stay armed.
Thank God for you and for your stand for real American values! What a treasure you are.
PS - I luuuuuuuuuuuv Bluegrass, too! Yahoo!