Medal of Honor Recipient, Navy Pilot Buried With Full Honors at Arlington National Cemetery – IOTW Report

Medal of Honor Recipient, Navy Pilot Buried With Full Honors at Arlington National Cemetery

Friday, 6 April 2018, 12:30 MJA Uncategorized 15

WFB: Medal of Honor awardee Capt. Thomas J. Hudner, Jr., was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday.

Hudner, a Navy pilot, was awarded the nation’s highest military honor for his actions on Dec. 4, 1950, the U.S. Navy said in a statement.

Hudner received the Medal of Honor from President Harry S. Truman for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty” during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War. During a mission, one of his fellow pilots, the Navy’s first African American naval aviator to fly in combat, Ensign Jesse L. Brown, was hit by anti-aircraft fire damaging a fuel line and causing him to crash. After it became clear Brown was seriously injured and unable to free himself, Hudner proceeded to purposefully crash his own aircraft to join Brown and provide aid. Hudner injured his own back during his crash landing, but stayed with Brown until a rescue helicopter arrived. Hudner and the rescue pilot worked in the sub-zero, snow-laden area in an unsuccessful attempt to free Brown from the smoking wreckage. Although the effort to save Brown was not successful, Hudner was recognized for the heroic attempt.

President Harry S. Truman awarded Hudner the Medal of Honor on April 13, 1951, with Brown’s widow, Daisy, present. Hudner and Daisy remained friends for the 50 years following.  read more

15 Comments on Medal of Honor Recipient, Navy Pilot Buried With Full Honors at Arlington National Cemetery

  6. Even after my service time and accomplishments I remind people I am not nor ever be a true hero like this man was and is in our memories and military honors.

    Captain Hudner deserves the respect and thanks of a grateful nation in whom exceptionalism seems to be inspired.

    7

  10. F4UCorsair, I once watched a destroyer go up and down one wave then list to one side and then the other during a typhoon when we were in transit from Hong Kong to the Philippines in 1974. We shut everything down for about a week riding out that typhoon, every plane that could fit in the hangar deck was down below and only the E-2C Hawkeye’s AWACS planes were on deck tied down with hurricane chains and believe me no one was allowed on the flight deck unless it was an emergency and they were tied to a very stout tether line. Boy was I glad I was on a aircraft carrier the USS Kitty Hawk CV63 and not that poor destroyer and even we took some pretty heavy seas but not like that destroyer did. I have ultimate respect for typhoons after that storm seeing just how powerful they are.

    6

  12. Can’t remember, all I know it was one heck of a storm out in the South China Sea. When a carrier is listing at about 5 degrees and you can hear the creaking and groaning of that massive ship on the outside of the hull you know it’s serious. They weren’t kidding when the Navy’s motto was, “Join the Navy and ride the waves”. There is an old film of the USS Ranger in a mega typhoon in the Pacific during the Vietnam War when there were waves 20-30 feet above the flight deck crashing over the bow. I remember seeing that in boot camp when they showed us just how powerful a typhoon could be. A carrier deck is about 80-90 feet above the water so you can imagine just how large those waves were. And I once heard, I don’t know it it’s true or not about a rogue wave completely flipping over a destroyer during World War 2 in the South Pacific. It did a complete 360 degree flip over and ended back upright somehow. I wouldn’t have wanted to be on that tin can, what we called a destroyer when I was in the Navy.

    2

Comments are closed.

iOTWreport.com ©2024 ----- iOTWreport is not responsible for the content of comments. All opinions in comments are solely the commenter's.