Utah veteran gets medals 60 years delayed
Dressed in his trim Air Force blue uniform, 86-year-old Provo, Utah resident Myron Brown was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star and Purple Heart for his actions as a B-26 pilot during the Korean War over Pyongyang.
April 20, 1951, during a night bombing attack against a heavily defended railroad yard in Pyongyang, Korea, anti-aircraft fire took out one of his B-26’s engines. Instead of prematurely dropping his bomb load and aborting his mission, Brown managed to extinguish the flames, set up single-engine operations, and still hit the “critically important target,” the Distinguished Service Cross citation reads.
Then, despite a leg wound, Brown finished the second part of the mission by firing rockets, and strafing railroad cars and ammunition stores with machine gun fire.
One of the cars Brown and his crew destroyed was the site of a meeting of high-ranking North Korean generals, who had met to plan an important counter attack that would never come, thanks to Brown’s actions, the citation says.
“Brown’s commitment to his assigned mission … created a sequence of events that ultimately led to a most important ground victory.”
For that, he got the Distinguished Service Cross and Purple Heart.
Now you have to go read how he earned his Silver Star.
Category: Real Soldiers
“Of the 10 rows of military awards pinned to his uniform, he said, “I don’t even know what all but five of these were for,” adding, “You just do what you have to.”
His memories are heavier than his medals, he says. Like the image of one of his navigators’ intestines spilled out on the floor.
“That’s really hard,” he said.”
This gentleman is what I like about “old school”.
Total bad arse!
what a fine man. thanks for sharing.
What Tman said. I would add the description of him having stones the size of Texas as well.