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Valor Friday

| December 1, 2023 | 5 Comments
Valor Friday

Some figures in military history are truly larger than life. Even when they’re in active service, their legend precedes them. They are the types that those who serve with or under them, wear that closeness as a badge of honor for the rest of their lives. Men such as George Patton, Chesty Puller, Chester Nimitz, […]

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Valor Friday

| November 24, 2023 | 10 Comments
Valor Friday

While driving around I like to look at the memorial highway designations. Many of them in my state, I’m aware of who they are. The stretch of I-35 through Lino Lakes, MN is dedicated to Officer Shawn Silvera. He was a police officer who died in the line of duty trying to stop a fleeing […]

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Valor Friday

| November 17, 2023 | 12 Comments
Valor Friday

While having been a military veteran is not a requirement to become President of the United States, military service is a trait very commonly found in Presidents. It was more common in the earlier days of the republic. From George Washington to Theodore Roosevelt (whose presidency ended in 1909) we had only five of the […]

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Valor Friday

| November 10, 2023 | 5 Comments
Valor Friday

Two films just came out, both telling the story of former Royal Navy Lieutenant Bernard “Bernie” Jordan. Jordan famously “escaped” from his nursing home in 2014, at the age of 89, to make a pilgrimage to Normandy for the 70th anniversary of D-Day, in which he participated. Somehow it looks like we missed discussing this […]

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Valor Friday

| November 3, 2023 | 11 Comments
Valor Friday

A recent question was posed to me. Have there been any people awarded medals by the enemy? I’ve talked before about some adjacent situations. Both Lieutenant Friedrich Lengfeld and Private Karl-Heinz Rosch have been honored by their enemy (Americans and Belgians respectively) for their heroics, but neither received a medal from the enemy government. I’ve […]

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Valor Friday

| October 27, 2023 | 5 Comments
Valor Friday

Sometimes my research brings me to non-military men and women of exceptional bravery. Harold Thompson was one such man. Born in 1922 in Hobart, Indiana, Thompson was at the prime age to see military service in World War II. As with most men of his generation, he was called to federal service during the war. […]

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Valor Friday

| October 20, 2023 | 11 Comments
Valor Friday

A few weeks back, I re-highlighted the bravery of William Othello Wilson. I noted in those articles how Wilson’s heroism surrounding actions at the Battle of Wounded Knee was followed soon after by desertion. He’d ultimately desert twice, but is not the only Medal of Honor recipient to have faced such charges. James Ira Spurrier […]

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Valor Friday

| October 13, 2023 | 6 Comments
Valor Friday

This week a D-Day veteran of WWII was honored at his gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery. As part of the service, Staff Sergeant Waverly Woodson Jr, formerly of the US Army, was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Combat Medical Badge. Both awards were late in getting to him, as he died in […]

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