Distinguished Service Cross
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
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 […]
Valor Friday
Charles Kegelman is one of the “forgotten firsts” of the Second World War. After America entered the war in December 1941, Americans were first pressed into combat in the Pacific Theater immediately. American troops in the Philippines, Hawaii, and Wake Island were embroiled in fighting for their lives before the official declaration of war. In […]
Valor Friday
This week I want to highlight the nine US Army installations that are being renamed this year. The latest was renamed just this week for the above pictured man. Fort Polk, Louisiana is now henceforth known as Fort Johnson, after Medal of Honor recipient William Henry “Black Death” Johnson of the legendary Harlem Hellfighters. We […]
Valor Friday
Family duties and a horrible case of seasonal allergies have sidelined my writing this week, so I’ll be phoning in today’s Valor Friday. If you’ve never heard of John Paul Vann, his is a story worth reading. He started his Army career in 1943 as a USAAF pilot cadet, became a navigator, but didn’t see […]
Valor Friday
This week’s subject comes by way of a request. Maurice Britt was a professional football player (Detroit Lions), lieutenant governor of Arkansas, and a recipient of all four of the country’s highest awards for combat bravery. Born in Lonoke County, Arkansas in 1919, Maurice graduated as valedictorian from Lonoke High School in 1937. From there […]
Valor Friday
The US Army’s First Infantry Division, known as “The Big Red One” for their shoulder sleeve insignia’s design, was one of the first division-sized elements organized by the Army upon the US entry into World War I. They paraded through Paris on 4 July 1917 after arriving in France, to bolster the spirits of the […]
Valor Friday
In the War in the Pacific, there were several American positions that the Japanese overran early in the war. Many of these, such as the Philippines, would take years and significant blood to retake. One early battle in the war, and one which was never recaptured, was Wake Island. Wake Island is a tiny Pacific […]
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