Leo Thorsness passes

AverageNCO sends us the sad news that Medal of Honor recipient Leo Thorsness has passed at the tender age of 85. From WAAYTV;

In 1967, Thorsness risked his life to save another aircrew over North Vietnam. Just two weeks after that action, he was shot down, and spent six years in a North Vietnamese prison, enduring daily physical and mental torture.

From the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, his citation reads;

As pilot of an F- 105 aircraft, Lt. Col. Thorsness was on a surface-to-air missile suppression mission over North Vietnam. Lt. Col. Thorsness and his wingman attacked and silenced a surface-to-air missile site with air-to-ground missiles, and then destroyed a second surface-to-air missile site with bombs. In tile attack on the second missile site, Lt. Col. Thorsness’ wingman was shot down by intensive antiaircraft fire, and the 2 crewmembers abandoned their aircraft. Lt. Col. Thorsness circled the descending parachutes to keep the crewmembers in sight and relay their position to the Search and Rescue Center. During this maneuver, a MIG-17 was sighted in the area. Lt. Col. Thorsness immediately initiated an attack and destroyed the MIG. Because his aircraft was low on fuel, he was forced to depart the area in search of a tanker. Upon being advised that 2 helicopters were orbiting over the downed crew’s position and that there were hostile MlGs in the area posing a serious threat to the helicopters, Lt. Col. Thorsness, despite his low fuel condition, decided to return alone through a hostile environment of surface-to-air missile and antiaircraft defenses to the downed crew’s position. As he approached the area, he spotted 4 MIG-17 aircraft and immediately initiated an attack on the MlGs, damaging 1 and driving the others away from the rescue scene. When it became apparent that an aircraft in the area was critically low on fuel and the crew would have to abandon the aircraft unless they could reach a tanker, Lt. Col. Thorsness, although critically short on fuel himself, helped to avert further possible loss of life and a friendly aircraft by recovering at a forward operating base, thus allowing the aircraft in emergency fuel condition to refuel safely.

From WAAY:

But, just 11 days later, [Lieutenant Colonel Leo Thorsness and Captain Harold Johnson] were shot down by an air-to-air missile fired by a North Vietnamese MiG-21 fighter, along with two other aircraft. A massive air battle ensued over the site with Air Force search and rescue crews repeatedly trying to rescue them. But in the end, they were unsuccessful.

Thorsness and Johnson were imprisoned in the Hoa Lo Prison, also known as the “Hanoi Hilton.” Thorsness’s refusal to cooperate earned him a year in solitary confinement and almost daily torture. He was left with severe back injuries as a result.

In 1973, the two were freed and found out that while imprisoned, Thorsness had been approved for the Medal of Honor, and Johnson for the Air Force Cross. The awards had not been announced for their safety.

Category: We Remember