My Dad told me about many Marines, including himself, who were wounded at Chosin Reservoir in 1950 and didn’t say anything, because they didn’t want to leave their comrades.
My civics teacher in high school was at the "frozen Chosin" as a Marine Captain. The Marines dragged their frozen and live buddies' down the river to the beach where they were evacuated by Navy LSTs and smaller boats like LCVPs. We invited him to our 60 year class reunion in 2019. He was still sharp, neat and gave an inspiring speech. He recognized me and asked if I had become a Naval Aviator. What a memory. I did become a Naval Aviator and served in six nations that had tyranny, flying SEALs around. I flew 556 missions in Vietnam and Cambodia. Never lost a crewman, but I did wear out some Hueys. The new transient barracks at Norfolk is named The James Wall Manor after one of my crewmen. Seawolf 25
Heroes. It's not enough for the President, SECDEF and CJCS to remember them. The President, SECDEF and CJCS need to be held to account for putting the US military in harm's way, unnecessarily.
This was a great article until I got to the comments. If you want to hold the Chain of Command accountable, be consistent. Not just here but in any case where US servicemen and women die. Otherwise you are not honoring them, you using their sacrifices as simple political pawns.
Chris, I can assure you it goes both ways. These 13 hero service members didn’t just die some mysterious way in the fog of war during that chaotic, poorly planned AFG evacuation, they were killed by a crazed suicide vest wearing adversary who killed 183 people that day including these heroes. The epic fail evacuation was due to extreme ineptness, poor planning & naïveté that led to chaos & the deadly environment ensued. It didn’t have to happen that way, it should not have happened. This is why people are so upset over this. And still no one fired, resigned or impeached. It does not instill confidence.
My Dad told me about many Marines, including himself, who were wounded at Chosin Reservoir in 1950 and didn’t say anything, because they didn’t want to leave their comrades.
My civics teacher in high school was at the "frozen Chosin" as a Marine Captain. The Marines dragged their frozen and live buddies' down the river to the beach where they were evacuated by Navy LSTs and smaller boats like LCVPs. We invited him to our 60 year class reunion in 2019. He was still sharp, neat and gave an inspiring speech. He recognized me and asked if I had become a Naval Aviator. What a memory. I did become a Naval Aviator and served in six nations that had tyranny, flying SEALs around. I flew 556 missions in Vietnam and Cambodia. Never lost a crewman, but I did wear out some Hueys. The new transient barracks at Norfolk is named The James Wall Manor after one of my crewmen. Seawolf 25
What a remarkable story. Thank you so much for sharing.
Heroes. It's not enough for the President, SECDEF and CJCS to remember them. The President, SECDEF and CJCS need to be held to account for putting the US military in harm's way, unnecessarily.
This was a great article until I got to the comments. If you want to hold the Chain of Command accountable, be consistent. Not just here but in any case where US servicemen and women die. Otherwise you are not honoring them, you using their sacrifices as simple political pawns.
Chris, I can assure you it goes both ways. These 13 hero service members didn’t just die some mysterious way in the fog of war during that chaotic, poorly planned AFG evacuation, they were killed by a crazed suicide vest wearing adversary who killed 183 people that day including these heroes. The epic fail evacuation was due to extreme ineptness, poor planning & naïveté that led to chaos & the deadly environment ensued. It didn’t have to happen that way, it should not have happened. This is why people are so upset over this. And still no one fired, resigned or impeached. It does not instill confidence.
Agree. So far no one has resigned, been fired or impeached due to that epic AFG withdrawal failure. It makes me sick. Will stop there.