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Originally Posted by wet dog
Thanks, This subject has been on my mind lately. I was visiting with my old man in Wyoming who served as a AF airmen during the Korean War. All my life, he has been soft spoken and reserved, must be a generational thing. His older half brothers served in the OSS/WWII, I met them before they died when I was just a kid. Perhaps it was these men and my father who provided the basics in me developing my own opinions on the subject of medals.
Finally, after so many years of trying to pull out of my father a few stories I could share with his grandchildren, did I learn that my father went down over the sea of Japan. While flying medical troop transport carrier of wounded US Army Infantry soldiers, flying from Korea to Japan for additional medical services. The pilot informing that all must bail out before crashing, my father aided the other airmen with parachutes, and a few patients that could jump. Having to leave the majority to die with the wreckage. My father was the last to leave, just prior to exiting the aircraft, he noticed a friend kneeling beside a litter offering a humble prayer to a wounded soldier. My dad said it was time to go. The Airmen said he was not leaving, that these wounded should not die alone. My father informed me that he considered staying himself, but only for a moment. An engine exploded, the aircraft rocked and my father fell out the door. The pilot, lone airmen and wounded went down.
By chance, a Swedish fishing ship recovered all who jumped. Water temperatures were so low, that life expectency was under 5 minutes. The pilot had plotted a ship by radar and kept the plane aloft for as long as he could.
According to my mother, my father had spent all these remaining years trying to locate the manifest for that flight: flight crew, airmen and wounded. He finally gave up only speculating that a manifest was never submitted by ground crews.
Heros, all of them.
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Your post is very timely for me. My uncle, who I love dearly and respect more than I can ever put into words, passed away last Wednesday, and was buried with full military honors on Saturday.
He was a quiet, unassuming man, who although fought in the Korean and Vietnam wars, with multiple tours, never really spoke of his service. Yes I know that he was a Sgt Major, yes I know he retired as a Major, yes I know he was a Ranger, and had a purple heart, but that was it. All that I know of his service was a book written about his platoon in Vietnam called "Charlie Mike".
At his viewing on Friday night, I saw him in his full dress uniform for the first time. On that uniform was a Silver Star, 5 Bronze stars (2 for Valor if rememner correctly through my tears) a Purple Heart, amongst many more. I was humbled that I never knew he recieved these awards, because it was not something he felt comfortable discussing. As far as he was concerned, he was only doing his job.
Wet Dog, as you have so eloquently stated, he didn't "win" anything, he simply did what he knew he should.
RIP Major (Ret) Gerald Colvin