Valor
Valor Friday
I was recently reading an article about the much admired A-1 Skyraider. The single-engine light bomber and attack aircraft was designed and first flown during World War II. Coming too late to see service during that war, the aircraft is emblematic of the rapid advancements made in aviation during the period. A Skyraider is capable […]
Valor Friday
It’s been a long time since I talked about Doris Miller, a mess steward who rose to fame and everlasting glory as a hero of the day on 7 Dec 1941. Miller, untrained in the operation of an anti-aircraft gun, took the weapon and fired at the Japanese during their surprise attack on his ship […]
Valor Friday
Brendan O’Connor’s military service is a tad unorthodox. He started as an officer, but became an enlisted man. Reminds me a bit of Michael Novosel. Born in 1960, he came from a line of military men. His father was Mortimer O’Connor, a graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point in, Class of 1953. […]
Valor Friday
Heroes come in all shapes and sizes and from all walks of life. This week’s subject is a bit different than most I cover. Tony Hudgell will never serve his country in uniform, as most of my subjects have. He’s found an amazing way to turn a life that started in tragedy into a way […]
Valor Friday
I briefly mentioned Peter Conover Hains last week as we explored men who spent more time in the service than is normal. Hains was the only confirmed American veteran of both the Civil War and World War I, though he didn’t see overseas service in the latter conflict. Canadian John Boucher is said to also […]
Valor Friday
Last week I looked at a few people who had spent the vast majority of their long lives in the service of this country. That led me to the discovery of a few more with exceptionally long times in uniform. The most famous 19th Century American naval officer, which I criminally overlooked last week, was […]
Valor Friday
I talked a while back about French Private Jean Thurel. He was an 18th Century soldier in the French Army, who lived to be 108 years old. He spent more than 75 of his years as a soldier, earning three long service medals (the only man to have done so) and was knighted into the […]
Valor Friday
As yesterday was the anniversary of the day “which will live in infamy,” the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, for this Valor Friday we’ll be revisiting some past articles. Of the men who served at Pearl, I’ve written about; Ensign Joseph Taussig – Officer of the Deck on USS Nevada (BB-36). Earned the Navy Cross […]
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