RSSDistinguished Service Cross

Woodson’s widow receives his posthumous DSC

| September 25, 2024 | 10 Comments
Woodson’s widow receives his posthumous DSC

You’ll remember the name Waverly Woodson from my past Valor Friday article on him, and more recently when we got word his long delayed posthumous Bronze Star Medal w/ “V” for Valor was announced as being upgraded to a DSC. Yesterday, Woodson’s widow and generations of his descendants were present to receive his Distinguished Service […]

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Valor Friday

| August 16, 2024 | 4 Comments
Valor Friday

Longtime readers will know that I have a soft spot for the heroism of those in the chaplain and medical corps. Today’s feature hits both. A recent Military Times article highlights some of the incredible battlefield bravery of Doctor Orlando Petty. While serving at an aid station at the front, Petty, a Navy doctor attached […]

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Valor Friday

| July 12, 2024 | 9 Comments
Valor Friday

Staff Sergeant Michael Ollis of Staten Island, NY was on his last day in Afghanistan. It was his third combat deployment, and he was only 24 years old. He’d enlisted seven years prior in the Army infantry, getting his parents’ permission to enlist at 17. Soon after he saw Iraq and then Afghanistan, with this […]

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D-Day hero to receive posthumous DSC

| June 4, 2024 | 11 Comments
D-Day hero to receive posthumous DSC

We’ve talked about Staff Sergeant Waverly Woodson Jr before. I wrote about him last year for a Valor Friday piece. Click the link to refresh your memory. Ex-PH2 posted about him a few years previous. [Editor’s note: I don’t realize how much I miss some people like Ex until I’m going through old posts and […]

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Valor Friday

| April 12, 2024 | 7 Comments
Valor Friday

I briefly mentioned today’s subject when I was talking in detail about another man. Staff Sergeant Rodney Yano earned the Medal of Honor (posthumously) for valor in action while a helicopter crewman over Vietnam.  The pilot of the chopper that day was John Bahnsen. Bahnsen was suggested as a Valor Friday candidate in his own […]

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Valor Friday

| February 23, 2024 | 4 Comments
Valor Friday

I’ve talked several times about multi-war veterans. Some of those have earned valor awards for gallantry in action in service spanning several decades. Pascal Poolaw was one such man. You’ll recall he earned four Silver Stars and three Purple Hearts. He did so across three different wars, earned a Silver Star and Purple Heart in […]

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Valor Friday

| January 12, 2024 | 18 Comments
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. […]

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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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