Tag Archives: Medal of Honor

military news

This ceremony is worth watching … over and over

President Barack Obama took a few minutes out of his busy day this week to hang a medal around the neck of an 86-year-old hero.

The hero’s name is Charles Kettles. Nearly 50 years ago — yes, 50 years — Kettles found himself in the middle of an intense fire fight in Vietnam.

Kettles, an Army pilot, already had been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his effort to rescue his fellow soldiers, flying them out of the landing zone to safety.

But someone in Ypsilanti, Mich., where Kettles lives, heard about the story and worked for five years to ensure that Kettles received the nation’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor.

This video tells the story. It’s moving. It speaks to one man’s humility, which as I’ve long believed speaks to the fundamental character that all true heroes share.

The event also enables us, as the president noted, to honor the “basic goodness” of Americans. “It’s been a tough couple of weeks,” the president said.

Indeed it has … which helps make this presentation so meaningful.

Thank you, Lt. Col. Kettles.

national news, political news

Sen. Dole reminds GOP of its dignified past

UNITED STATES - DECEMBER 20: Former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., salutes the casket of the late Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, as his body lies in state in the Capitol rotunda, as Dole's wife, former Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., looks on. Bob Dole and Inouye knew each other since they were recovering from World War II battle wounds. Dole was assisted to the casket saying "I wouldn't want Danny to see me in a wheelchair." (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Many Republican luminaries are staying away from the Republican Party’s national presidential nominating convention.

But not all of them.

A serious man attended today’s opening of the convention in Cleveland.

He is former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, the Kansas Republican who represented his state and served our country with tremendous honor.

Sen. Dole was there to support presumptive presidential nominee Donald J. Trump. That’s what party loyalists do, whether they’re Democrat or Republican. Dole is a loyalist to the core.

He also represents another time in this country when Republicans and Democrats could be political adversaries, not enemies.

MSNBC commentators took note of Dole’s distinguished career in public life. They brought up his years in the Senate. They mentioned how, in 1976, President Ford selected him as his running mate to assuage conservatives’ concerns. They talked also of Dole’s conservative principles as he ran for president in 1988 against fellow Republican George H.W. Bush.

Of course, they mentioned his losing 1996 presidential campaign against President Clinton.

Here’s another element of Dole’s service they mentioned: They talked about his heroic service in the Army during World War II, in which he suffered grievous injury while fighting the Nazis in Italy.

It was right after coming home from the battlefield that young Bob Dole would meet another young American with whom he would undergo rehabilitation. The forged a friendship in the rehab hospital that would last a lifetime.

The other young man was Daniel Inouye, who would become a U.S. senator from Hawaii, and who was as loyal to his Democratic Party as Dole is to the GOP.

Inouye also suffered near-mortal wounds during World War II. He would receive the Medal of Honor for his battlefield heroics.

“Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd took particular note today of when Sen. Inouye died and his friend Bob Dole stood in front of Inouye’s casket to salute him. He told the honor guard that his “good friend Danny wouldn’t want to see me sitting here” in a wheelchair, Todd said.

Dole represented a time when senators could disagree, but maintain personal affection and friendship.

I was gratified to see this member of the “greatest generation” one more time.

If only his political descendants — on both sides of the partisan divide — would follow the example of collegiality that he and his “good friend Danny” set for politicians all across the land.

Uncategorized

Medal of Honor shocks recipient

You’re a 72-year-old Army Special Forces veteran. You’ve seen combat up close and personal. You’ve been injured on the battlefield and you performed so heroically in September 1969 that the Army awarded you the Distinguished Service Cross for valor.

But something was missing. Some of the brass thought you deserved the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award. You didn’t get it because, reportedly, someone high up in the chain of command didn’t want to grant the honor to an African-American.

The battle occurred 45 years ago, in Vietnam. Your name is Melvin Morris and when the phone rang one day this past year, you picked it up and the president of the United States was on the other end of the call.

He invited you to the White House to receive the honor you richly deserve. You and several others from will be honored. It is late, but no less deserved.

http://blog.al.com/wire/2014/02/florida_man_shocked_to_learn_o.html

Morris is one of only three Vietnam War veterans who will be present to receive their Medals of Honor. All told, eight living veterans will be on hand. The rest of them are now deceased. Some of them died on the battlefield. Some of the veterans date back to World War II and the Korean War.

It will be an unusual ceremony, honoring veterans of African-American, Hispanic or Jewish heritage who were denied the honor because of their race, ethnicity or faith. President Obama and the Pentagon want to make it right and have scheduled this event for March 18.

Melvin Morris said he was shocked when he got the phone call. He said he fell to his knees.

But like virtually all heroes, he had gone on with his life. “I never really did worry about decorations,” Morris said.

Well done, Mr. Morris — and welcome home.