NEED to KNOW!!!! These Heroes!!!

I was stationed at Fairchild when this incident happened. Then-Airman Brown's actions saved countless people.

Thank You for your Service, & for sharing.

[center:3lpanvoi]Samuel Adams[/center:3lpanvoi]
[center:3lpanvoi] [/center:3lpanvoi]

Samuel Adams (September 27 [O.S. September 16] 1722 – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As a politician in colonial Massachusetts, Adams was a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and was one of the architects of the principles of American republicanism that shaped the political culture of the United States. He was a second cousin to President John Adams.

Born in Boston, Adams was brought up in a religious and politically active family. A graduate of Harvard College, he was an unsuccessful businessman and tax collector before concentrating on politics. As an influential official of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Boston Town Meeting in the 1760s, Adams was a part of a movement opposed to the British Parliament's efforts to tax the British American colonies without their consent. His 1768 circular letter calling for colonial cooperation prompted the occupation of Boston by British soldiers, eventually resulting in the Boston Massacre of 1770. To help coordinate resistance to what he saw as the British government's attempts to violate the British Constitution at the expense of the colonies, in 1772 Adams and his colleagues devised a committee of correspondence system, which linked like-minded Patriots throughout the Thirteen Colonies. Continued resistance to British policy resulted in the 1773 Boston Tea Party and the coming of the American Revolution.

After Parliament passed the Coercive Acts in 1774, Adams attended the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, which was convened to coordinate a colonial response. He helped guide Congress towards issuing the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and helped draft the Articles of Confederation and the Massachusetts Constitution. Adams returned to Massachusetts after the American Revolution, where he served in the state senate and was eventually elected governor.

Read the rest: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Adams

[center:1mfbj754] John Abbott
[/center:1mfbj754]
Rank, Service Captain O-6, U.S. Navy
Veteran of:
U.S. Navy 1945-1966
World War II 1945
Cold War 1945-1966
Korean War 1951-1952
Vietnam War 1965-1966 (POW, Died in Captivity)

Tribute:
John Abbott was born on August 20, 1927, in Burlington, Vermont. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on August 8, 1945, and entered the Navy V-5 flight training program in October 1945. Abbott was released from active duty in September 1946, and then returned to flight training with the Naval Aviation Cadet Program in July 1947, being designated a Naval Aviator in September 1948, and receiving his commission as an Ensign on July 22, 1949. He served with VF-53 from July 1949 to May 1952, and during this time flew combat missions during the Korean War from the aircraft carrier USS Essex (CV-9) from August 1951 to March 1952. His next assignment was with VX-3 from May 1952 to June 1954, and then as an instructor pilot at NAAS Kingsville, Texas, from June 1954 to January 1955. LT Abbott served at NAS Olathe, Kansas, from January to December 1955, and then served with the Navy ROTC detachment at Yale University from December 1955 to September 1956. He served with the Service School Command at NS Great Lakes, Illinois, from September 1956 to June 1957, and then served as air operations officer aboard the aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge (CVS-45) from June 1957 to August 1959. LCDR Abbott then attended the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey, California, from September 1959 to June 1960, followed by service with the Commander of Operational Test and Evaluation Force at Norfolk, Virginia, from June 1960 to May 1962. CDR Abbott served with Headquarters U.S. Navy in the Pentagon from May 1962 to June 1963, and then with Air Development Squadron FIVE (VX-5) at NAF China Lake, California, from June 1963 to 1965. He then served as an A-4 Skyhawk pilot with VA-113, flying combat missions from the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) from November 1965 until he was forced to eject over North Vietnam and was taken as a Prisoner of War on April 20, 1966, having just taken command of VF-113 nine days before. CDR Abbott was reported to have died in captivity 7 days later, on April 27, 1966. He was posthumously promoted to Captain, and his remains were returned to the United States on March 13, 1974. Capt Abbott is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

His 4th Distinguished Flying Cross Citation reads: http://www.veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.asp?ID=957

[center:3vpp2xhv] [/center:3vpp2xhv]
[center:3vpp2xhv]The President of the United States
Takes Pride in Presenting
The Air Force Cross (Posthumously)[/center:3vpp2xhv]
[center:3vpp2xhv]To[/center:3vpp2xhv]
[center:3vpp2xhv] [/center:3vpp2xhv]
[center:3vpp2xhv]Please Don't stand and Weep
Those men I had to save
Not because of Courage
or because I'm Brave

Not because of Orders
or because it was my Dream
I did it for my Brothers
I did it for the Team
So Please Don't weep for me
for all I had to give
I did it for a reason
"So That Others May Live"
Written by Jason's brother-in-law Jared Marquis[/center:3vpp2xhv] http://www.pjsinnam.com/War_on_Terror/Cunningham/Cunningham.htm
[center:3vpp2xhv]Jason Dean Cunningham
Senior Airman, U.S. Air Force [/center:3vpp2xhv]
For Services as Set Forth in the Following
Citation:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Title 10, Section 8742, U.S.C., awards the Air Force Cross to Senior Airman Jason D. Cunningham for extraordinary heroism in military operations against an opposing armed force while serving as a pararescueman near the village of Marzak in the Paktia Province of Afghanistan on 4 March 2002. On that proud day, Airman Cunningham was the primary Air Force Combat Search and Rescue medic assigned to a Quick Reaction Force tasked to recover two American servicemen evading capture in austere terrain occupied by massed Al Qaida and Taliban forces. Shortly before landing, his MH-47E helicopter received accurate rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire, severely disabling the aircraft and causing it to crash land.
Read the rest: http://homeofheroes.com/valor/08_WOT/afc_cunningham.html

Colonel Mitch Paige passed away on November 15, 2003. We are pleased to keep his website here so those who never had the opportunity to meet this great man, can still hear his story.

"I am proud to be a citizen of a nation whose objective is peace and goodwill for all mankind. A nation which has contributed so much for the benefit of peoples all over the world. A nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all. I am proud to be an American. I can never believe it is old fashioned to love our Flag and Country nor can I ever believe it is being square to stand in readiness behind our flag to defend those ideals for which it stands against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
Mitch Paige, MOH

[center:21v7wvv6]
Colonel Mitchell Paige
U.S.M.C. (Retired)
"An American Hero for our Time"

[/center:21v7wvv6]

The distinguished history of the United States Marine Corps is replete with accounts of determination, fortitude, courage and sacrifice. The Few...the Proud...the men who wear the distinctive Eagle, Globe and Anchor are proud of that history and the Corps' many heroes and legends. Among their roll of honor are men like Chesty Puller, Louis Cukela, Smedley Butler, Daniel Joseph Daly,
.....and Mitchell Mitch Paige.Platoon Sergeant Mitchell Paige achieved his place in Leatherneck lore for a courageous stand one dark night in 1942 on the island of Guadalcanal, where he redefined the term Fighting Marine. He is remembered as a young hero who went on to serve 28 years in the Corps before retiring in 1964.
Mitch Paige the man is best remembered as a peaceful, humble man of intense faith who has dedicated his life to serving his country in peace and war for more than eighty years.
[center:21v7wvv6] [/center:21v7wvv6]

Mitch was born to a hard-working railroad construction family of Serbian ancestry on August 31, 1918, in the small town of Charleroi, Pennsylvania. While completing high school in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, Mitch was active in the Boy Scout program at his school. His mother taught him never to forget his Serbian roots, but always to be thankful for the privilege of living in America. Patriotism was an important part of his learning process.
At the age of seventeen Mitch attempted to enlist in the Marine Corps, but was denied due his youth. He returned on his 18th birthday in 1936 to reaffirm his commitment to service. Following boot camp at Parris Island, SC Mitch went on to serve in Cuba where his fellow Leathernecks had served since the Spanish-American War.
At the start of that conflict, the United States had fewer than 3,000 Marines in service, most scattered around the globe on Navy ships and at every American Embassy in the world . Everything changed when Lieutenant Colonel Robet W. Huntington landed his 1st Marine Battalion at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba on June 10, 1898. Outnumbered ten-to-one, the 623-man battalion secured the area and held it for the next half century.
Following the Spanish-American War, in 1913 the Advanced Base Brigade of Marines was formed in Philadelphia. These Marines continued to build an admirable reputation of heroism and service in Mexico, Haiti, Nicaragua, and elsewhere throughout the Caribbean. Among the legendary early Marines Mitch was privileged to serve was Herman Henry Hanneken who, as a young second lieutenant, earned the Medal of Honor in Haiti. "Of all the jungle fighters who have ever lived," Mitch states without hesitation, "Herman Henry Hanneken was the greatest of them all."



Read the rest at: http://homeofheroes.com/mitch/index.html

[center:2d7qxtxv]Daniel J. Daly [/center:2d7qxtxv]
[center:2d7qxtxv] [/center:2d7qxtxv]

Rank, Service
Sergeant Major/Gunnery Sergeant E-7, U.S. Marine Corps

Veteran of:
U.S. Marine Corps 1899-1929
Boxer Rebellion 1900
Mexican War 1914
Occupation of Haiti 1915
World War I 1917-1918

Tribute:
Dan Daly was born on November 11, 1873, in Glen Cove, New York. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on January 10, 1899, and was assigned to the Asiatic Fleet where he saw action in Peking, China, during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, for which he would be awarded his 1st of 2 Medals of Honor. He served at Veracruz during the Mexican War in 1914, and saw action again and received his 2nd Medal of Honor during the Occupation of Haiti in 1915. During World War I, Daly was sent to France in November 1917, and saw action at the Battle of Belleau Wood in June 1918. He retired from the Marine Corps on February 6, 1929. Dan Daly died on April 27, 1937.

Read his story: http://www.veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.asp?ID=174

[center:ew569qzs]Lieutenant (j.g.)
Ann A. Bernatitus
"Angel of Mercy" [/center:ew569qzs]

[center:ew569qzs] [/center:ew569qzs]

Ten hours after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese planes launched the first in a deadly series of attacks on the Philippine Islands, bombing and strafing airfields in and around Manila, and two days later later at the Cavite Navy Yard south of Manila. Even before the enemy planes had taken off, three Japanese convoys were steaming south, two headed for Luzon with thousands of combat forces to whom would fall the task of defeating the Philippine forces and their few American counterparts.

The first Japanese forces landed at Legaspi at the southern tip of Luzon on December 11, far enough removed from Manila to not immediately become a major concern. When, on December 22, the 43,110 men of General Homma's 14th Army entered Luzon's Lingayen Gulf and embarked with artillery and 100 tanks at three points, the already badly war-damaged Philippine capitol was caught in a deadly crossfire.
On Christmas Eve, General MacArthur and his staff departed Manila for the Island fortress at Corregidor. Two days later, in an effort to spare Manila further damage and loss of civilian life, it was declared an open city. (A city that is declared demilitarized during a war, thus gaining immunity from attack under international law.) On New Years Day, 1942, the last official American military presence in Manila departed, and on January 2 the Japanese entered and gained control of the city.

Among the American forces departing Manila in that tragic first week of 1942 was Miss Ann A. Bernatitus. The 29-year nurse from Exeter, PA, held the relative rank of Lieutenant (j.g.) in the Navy Nurse Corps, in which she had already served for five years. Captain (Retired) Bernatitus recalled in a 1994 interview, "I always wanted to be a nurse. There was nothing else for girls to do in those days but be a school teacher or a nurse. My parents couldn't afford to send me to college. My school friend, whose mother was a widow, told my mother, who was also a widow, to let me go for training. My mother then decided to let me go for training locally."

If Ann Bernatitus felt options for a young woman were limited beyond nursing, she soon learned that things were little better in the Navy. Women in the Navy were addressed as "Miss", and held no formal rank. Ann recalled, "In those days we were neither fish nor fowl. We were not officers and we were not enlisted. We were in between. We did not get the pay of an officer but we got more than the enlisted."

[center:ew569qzs] [/center:ew569qzs]
Ann Bernatitus, the first American of any branch of service in history to be awarded the Legion of Merit retired from the Navy as a Captain in 1959. She passed away in March 2003 at age 91.

Award of the Legion of Merit
Lieutenant (jg) Ann A. Bernatitus, USN
Nurse Corps, (Exeter, Pa):
For exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services as a member of Surgical Unit No. 5 during the Japanese attack on the Philippines, Nurse Bernatitus maintained her position in the front lines of the Manila-Bataan area rendering efficient and devoted service during the prolonged siege (Dec. 1941 through Apr. 1942).



Read her whole story at : http://homeofheroes.com/footnotes/2007/01January1-Bernatitus.html

[center:y0ovbz7k]William Billy Mitchell
[/center:y0ovbz7k]
William Billy Mitchell was born in Nice, France on December 29, 1879, the first son of John Lendrum Mitchell and his second wife Harriet. (Some authors still list Billy as William Lendrum Mitchell, though in fact, William Mitchell had no middle name.) The following month Arthur MacArthur's wife Mary gave birth to her second son in Little Rock, Arkansas on January 26th. The couple named this child Douglas.
The Mitchell's remained in France for three years before returning to Milwaukee with a toddler who spoke French better than English. Young Billy took a lot of teasing for his preference to his native French when he entered school, causing him to abandon the language (as well as the German, Spanish, and Italian he also spoke) for nearly forty years. He revived it when he needed it, and could use it, to his best advantage.
At home in Milwaukee, Billy Mitchell and Douglas MacArthur not only had occasion to meet, but to become childhood friends. It was a friendship that would follow them all their lives, and years later present Douglas MacArthur with one of his most painful duties.
Mitchell was privy to a lifestyle without want: education at an Episcopal prep school, learning to ride carefully bred horses on the 400-acre family estate at Meadowmere, polo, and marksmanship. In 1891 John Mitchell was elected to the United States Congress, then entered the Senate two years later. The elder Mitchell's duties provided Willy, as the family called him at that time, opportunity to live in the Nation's capitol where he enrolled in Washington's Columbian School (later George Washington University.) It also gave him opportunity to study the workings and machinations of American politics.
Mitchell money and political clout (Grandpa Mitchell had also served in the United States Congress and turned down a bid to run for governor of Wisconsin), meant that neither Billy or his nine siblings would ever have to settle for common labor. The greatest problem for the growing young Mitchells seemed to be simply deciding on what private vocational endeavors to embark. When the USS Maine exploded in Havana, Cuba in 1898 and the United States declared war on Spain, Billy Mitchell decided perhaps the military would provide an answer to his own active personality.
"You're not going to let this little boy go to war, John?" asked General Fighting Joe Wheeler while he was in Washington before departing for Cuba as part of General Shafter's invasion force. "Especially as he's your oldest child."
"He's eighteen," replied the Senator, one of the leading opponents to the war in the early days leading up to the loss of the Maine. Then with a wit that was typical he noted, "I'd rather have them (soldiers) under twenty than over forty, if I were running a war."

Read the rest of his story at : http://homeofheroes.com/wings/part1/5_mitchell.html

[center:2fhyypi5]Wesley Fox [/center:2fhyypi5]
[center:2fhyypi5] [/center:2fhyypi5]

Wesley Fox is a patriotic American who dedicated 43 years of his life to service in the uniform of the United States Marine Corps. As a young corporal he served in Korea where he was wounded in action. Over the following sixteen years he worked his way through all of the enlisted ranks from the lowest private to First Sergeant.

While most servicemen would relish the accomplishment of rising through each of the enlisted ranks and choose to sit out a few more years to retirement, Wesley Fox used that opportunity to start all over. From second lieutenant he began working his way up through the ranks of a Marine Corps officer, serving in his second war in Vietnam as a First Lieutenant in command of a company in the 1st Battalion, 9th Marines (1/9). The men of 1/9 called themselves the "Walking Dead", a nickname that proved all too realistic during one of the Marine Corps' last major offensives of the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Fox was serving his second tour of duty in his second war, when he lead the "Walking Dead" of his company during Operation Dewey Canyon.

Read the rest: http://homeofheroes.com/wesleyfox/index.html