May 26, 2025 • 34 mins
Honoring those who served in Korea
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is a Jesse Kelly show.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
It is the Jesse Kelly Show. Let's honor the fallen
on a Memorial Day. It is Monday, it is Memorial Day,
and today is a day where we dedicate the entire
show to the people who died in service of this country.
(00:39):
We are going to talk about combat history. I'm going
to read citations, distinguished Service, cross and Medal of Honor,
and we'll talk some Korea. We'll talk some Vietnam, some
Global War on tear, maybe even some World War Two.
We have more names than I may be able to
(00:59):
get to in the show of names you emailed in,
of people you want honored, and I'm going to try
to chop away at all that. But this is not
like our normal shows, as you can probably already tell,
where we goof off and talk politics.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
There won't be any of that today.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I may play some comments from Trump or Vans or
heg Setch, just because they had some wonderful things to say.
But I wanted to make sure you knew as a reminder,
maybe even this is your first time tuning in.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
That today is a sacred day. I believe it's sacred.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
We believe we have a responsibility here on this show
to honor those who gave their lives for this country
on this day. And so that's why we come in.
We do a special Memorial Day show. There won't be
any ads, well, I mean, there'll be commercial breaks, but
there won't be any live reads. There'll be nothing but
history and honoring the fallen. And if I may really quickly,
(01:59):
I want to speak to the families, the families who
may be hurting today. In fact, Trump actually had something
wonderful to say about that.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
The families of the fallen. You feel the absence of
your heroes every day, and the family. He's a great families,
He's a wonderful families in the familiar laugh no longer heard,
the empty space at Sunday dinner, or the want of
a hug or a pat on the back that will
(02:28):
never come again. Every goal Star family fights a battle
long after the victory is won. And today we lift
you up and we hold you high. Thank you, thank you,
thank you for giving America the brightest light in your lives.
It's what you've done. We will never ever forget our
(02:49):
fallen heroes, and we will never forget our debt to you.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
I want to talk to you if you're one of
those family members, and I know we have many gold
Star families. Listened to the show because you know, I heard,
for the longest time in my life, I had heard
people say around different holidays, like Christmas for example, that
(03:15):
this day, please remember, this day can be heavy for people.
And I'll be frank with you, I got what they
were saying, and I never argued with it, but it didn't.
Actually I didn't fully realize what they were talking about
until this past Christmas when my father was gone, and
(03:36):
all of a sudden, it was the first Christmas without
my dad. Memorial Day to people who have lost a
family member or a close friend. Yes, it's a day
where people gather and celebrate, but this is a painful,
heavy day for a lot of people where yes, they
(03:58):
like it and they respect it, but look around everywhere
with the flags and the celebrations and the tombstones and
the stories even that I'll tell tonight, and it hurts
because it is a reminder of what you gave up,
of what the person you lost gave up, and what
you gave up. You gave up your husband, your kids
(04:22):
gave up their father, you gave up your son, and
you don't get to enjoy them ever again on this earth.
And that hurts, and for them who gave their lives.
It's been said before by others, but I'll say I'll
repeat my own version of it. It's about what they
(04:43):
gave up. I'll tell you it hits me hard. Like
this morning, actually yesterday morning, got up and I took
my son's to waffle House, just something dumb. You know,
we were awake and we were hungry. Let's go get
some waffle House. And I knew Memorial Day was coming up,
and thought about guys.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I knew.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
My age guys I was with who are gone now
and they don't get to go to waffle House with
their sons. And really, I know, I know I probably
shouldn't have, but it made me feel a little bit
guilty in a way, a real bad case of survivor's guilt.
Here I am with my two sons, and my buddies
gave it up.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
They don't get to do that.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
If you are one of those family members today or
close friends who are hurting today, just know that the
prayers of the Jesse Kelly Show family, all of us here,
everybody listening, we are with you, and I know that
maybe a small comfort, but it is the only comfort
we can give on a day that hurts. So respect
(05:47):
to you and respect to the fallen. So again a
heads up as to how this show is going to run.
We're gonna talk a lot of war history. I'm kind
of getting I'm gonna do a fairly basic War War
one history on these different conflicts to try to give
some concept of what was happening and what these men
give up their lives for. We're gonna read some Distinguished
(06:09):
Service cross citations tonight, Vietnam.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Korea, Global War on Terror, other things.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yes, Chris, Chris is warning me about the volume of
names we have. Remember I told you to email in
the names of the fallen, name, rank, and conflict because
we want to try to read all them on air
and honor them.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
There are a lot.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
The show has grown quite a bit over the six
years we've been doing it. It may be hard, okay,
but I'm going to try to get to every single name.
The emails like this, Jesse, my great uncle, Melvin Thomas Wyndham,
my grandfather, told me his body finally made it back
to Shelby County, Texas. His mother didn't believe it was
(06:56):
his body. It was common for pieces or parts sent backs,
and on and so forth. Again that's a common thing,
emails like this one. Fred D Smith, sergeant from Wisconsin,
Vietnam War. Fred worked with me in a large rural
cemetery readying it for nineteen sixty eight Memorial Day services,
(07:18):
mowing and clipping around the headstones and placing the American
flag at the veteran's graves. I was a junior and
he was a senior. He enlisted in the army and
went to Vietnam a few months later. I would be
taking care of his grave for the next few Memorial Days.
And there were several other men in my high school
(07:39):
that luckily made it back. So guys like fred D
Smith are who we're going to honor today. Now let's
begin Russia. Going to begin with the Korean War. And
before I get to these citations and start reading off names,
I want to give a recap again for people who
know history or who listen to this show. A lot
some of this stuff may be basic and stuff you know,
(08:00):
but a lot of people don't know, and a lot
of schools don't provide a decent historical perspective. So let's
just talk Korea and how we ended up in that terrible,
terrible war known as the Forgotten War, and men who
gave their lives over there during that Forgotten War. I
know we have Korean vets who listened. So first, post
(08:23):
World War two, it's a very fascinating time in the world.
Just think for a moment what the world is going through.
After it gets to breathe a sigh of relief, Japan
finally surrenders, and the world has just thought a global war.
(08:44):
Think of all the death, all the destruction, all the
financial ruined in various parts from Russia to the UK
to Japan. They're rebuilding cities all across Europe and Africa,
crazy amounts of rubble and lives lost and families lost
and refugees. Okay, so this is really terrible period of
(09:08):
time during and posts World War Two where the world
is trying to figure things out. How do we rebuild,
how do we pay for everything? What do we do?
And the world's trying to figure out how to structure itself,
and it's trying to fare out how to structure itself,
and there are other there are different things at play.
(09:30):
You have Stalin running the Soviet Union. So look, he's
not as nostalgic about the entire thing. He wants to
grab territories. So you're fighting against that. Just okay, there's
a lot going on, and part of a lot going
on is the world starts to unload its militaries. Militaries
(09:53):
are extremely expensive. I mean, look at our budget, our
budget right now. They're proposing a trillion dollar for the
military alone. Armies now and always are expensive. It costs
a lot to raise them, to pay them, to equip them,
to feed them. Militaries are very, very expensive things. They're
a luxury only wealthy countries really can share the burden
(10:17):
of and countries couldn't afford it, including US after World
War Two. So everyone starts dumping their military. Let's disband,
let's dispand get rid of this, get rid of this, get.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Rid of that.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
But there's trouble brewing over there in Korea, and we'll
talk about that next.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Jesse Kelly.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
It is the Jesse Kelly Show on a wonderful, wonderful
Memorial Day.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
As we sit.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Here and we talk about the conflicts and the men
and the things they gave up, and we are honoring
the fallen for three hours to day, and right now
we're about to talk a little bit about Korea. I'm
going to try to give us a briefer recapped on
these conflicts as possible, just because there's so much to
get to. But I want people to understand the conflict
itself and what was happening in the world post World
(11:09):
War Two. The world is broke, the world is in rubble.
They're drawing down their militaries. They can't afford nobody can
afford it anymore. No one wants these large standing armies.
We're figuring out what's going on. But in Korea they've
got a problem. You see, in Korea, the northern part
is governed and dominated by an evil communist. It's the
(11:32):
Kim family in case you're wondering, Just to spoil it
for you, and surprise, surprise, the communists in North Korea
are looking at South Korea and saying to themselves, well.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
I want it.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I think I'll go take it. I don't want half
of Korea, don't I actually want all of Korea? Now,
the world, I said, the world was going through some things,
and I said that to say this.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
World War two was so awful as.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Men, especially men who are getting older and grayer like
I am. As men, we tend to idolize and lionize
World War Two, and I am the most guilty of that.
I'm not pointing fingers, but we do lose sight sometimes
of the fact that it really was the most horrible
thing the world has ever gone through.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Ever.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I don't know that there's ever anything that happened that
brought that much death and misery and destruction and sadness
and just awful things.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
In the world. When it hurts like.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
That, once, to make sure it's very common. Once to
make sure it will never have to hurt like that again.
You know how many times have you heard you know,
it's not just a post Holocaust rallying cry for Jewish people,
never again. You know, that's a rallying cry very common.
That's a common rallying crime for human beings whenever they
(13:02):
go through something terrible. Never again, Never again, can we
allow this to happen? Because it hurts so badly, and
so you're looking around, the world's looking around, and they
want to make sure, how do we ensure that never
again are we going to have to fight this global
horrible thing? Well, we need a couple things. First. We
(13:23):
need a group of countries, like the nice countries, that's
the civilized countries. They'll come together and they'll they'll they'll
mediate everything, you know, United Nations time Baby, and something else.
On top of this group of countries, we need to
make sure nobody is ever allowed to invade another spit
(13:45):
of ground on the planet, ever, for any reason at all.
That was, That was It's a mindset that we very
much share to this day with the Russia Ukraine stuff.
But that was the mindset. Then no country can raise
an army and cross the borders of another country and invade.
(14:06):
If that happens, it must be stopped at any cost.
If it's not stopped, it will end up like Hitler
storming through Europe. Again, an over reaction, but an understandable
reaction to a world, or by a world that had
just suffered the way this world suffered. North Korea invade
South Korea, and the United Nations decides, hey, it's time
(14:30):
to get involved. We have to put a stop to this.
But putting a stop to this it's not letters, it's
not speeches. If there's a standing army with guns and
bombs and men willing to kill.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Then you are going.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
To need guns and bombs and men willing to kill
to stop it. Surprise, surprise, the United States of America
was looked to to shoulder this load.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
They looked to the United States of America and.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Said, hey, of nations, kind of mostly America, you need
to go help. America sent the troops. We didn't have
the troops. Remember, remember we were busy unloading our military
as well. So a lot of these men when I
read some of these things, these guys are freshly in.
Some are World War Two veterans, some are freshly in.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
But we were so short on troops for Korea.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Marines were finishing Marine Corps boot camp on the ships
on the way over to Korea. That is the definition
of green. You don't know anything when you finish boot
camp except how to tie your boots. You don't know
squat and you were going into hell. So North Korea
(15:47):
by now had invaded South Korea and they were pushing
the South Koreans clear down towards the tip. And then
Douglas MacArthur had a good idea. Again, everyone thinks I
hate MacArthur's got It's not true.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
It's not really true, Chris.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
He had a good idea, a very common idea in combat.
His idea was, well, why don't we land behind them,
land behind them, cut off their supply. Not only do
you cut off your supply route of your enemy when
you land behind them, but you are now behind them.
I know that kind of sounds like an obvious point,
(16:23):
but you have created for him a two front war.
Now he has enemies to his front, and now he
has really powerful enemies to his rear. And we land
behind them, and we start stomping the Koreans and we
start running them up north. And now military brass MacArthur
(16:46):
and those types, now they decide.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Well, we have an army. It's here.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
We've got these dirty communists on the run. They're heading
back north. There aren't that many of them. Why don't
we go after them into the north and smash them completely.
Maybe we'll even sniff around China, which is just north
of North Korea. Except Mao was running China at this time.
(17:15):
Mao was already angry with America for our backing of
the nationalists he had previously defeated in Korea, and Mao
was understandably nervous about an American Army making its way
to the Chinese border. So Mao decided to get involved,
and this is when Korea really turned into a living
hell for our guys.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Hang on The Jesse Kelly Show on air and online
at Jesse Kellyshow dot com.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
It is The Jesse Kelly Show on a Memorial Day.
Just to remind you that, uh, there's a lot of names.
There's a lot to get to today. I'm trying. I'm
gonna try the best I can to get to all
of it. But because there was so much to get to,
I am only going to play taps one time this show,
and it's going to round out the show. It's going
(18:05):
to be at the end of the third hour, We're
going to play taps to honor all of these fallen
men we're talking about, and then we will sign off
for the day. Back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow,
back to Korea. Before we start reading some of these citations,
it's one of the creepier things in combat, or things
(18:26):
that I've read about in combat, And.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
I'll put it to you this way.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
When you think there's not somebody there, and then you
start to sniff that there may be someone there, and
then you start to get the idea that maybe there's
a lot of people there in a lot more coming.
As we ventured into North Korea, our military units, Army
Marine Corps, we started to find Chinese soldiers. We started
(18:59):
to take China these prisoners, some of them had been captured,
some of them had simply gone a wall and tried
to escape. And our military starts to get intelligence from
these men that there are a lot of Chinese soldiers
pouring into North Korea. At first we were getting numbers
(19:22):
like one hundred thousand, two, three hundred thousand, numbers so
big the numbers weren't believed. In fact, it went clear
up the chain of command to MacArthur, who was running things,
and he and his guy said, but that's crazy, no way,
there's no.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
No way, except it was true.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Remember, Mao, as big of a piece of trash as
he was, was a seasoned, experienced fighter. He knew America
had air power which he did not have, and so
he waited until nighttime to bring his men in waves
down into North Korea. During the day, they would do
things like sleep in tunnels where they found them or
(20:01):
tie themselves to trees. So the planes flying overhead couldn't
see our guys were heading up into we don't know
a number, four hundred, five hundred thousand Chinese troops, and
our guys are heading into the frozen mountains, the frozen mountains,
(20:21):
and there aren't very many ways up there, and there
aren't very many ways back.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
As our guys.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Pour into the mountains of North Korea, the Chinese Communists
are coming in waves and they are surrounding our men. Now,
up to this point in time, I don't want to
be dismissive of what the fighting was like, but up
to this point in time, it was standard fighting, and
it was about to be as bad as anything you've
(20:49):
ever seen or heard. In fact, let's read a couple
of Distinguished Service Cross citations, shall we. This is for
a John S. Carson of Washington, d C. The President
of the United States takes pride in presenting the Distinguished
Service Cross posthumously to John Spencer Carson, second Lieutenant U. S.
Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations
(21:14):
against an armed enemy of the United Nations while serving
with Company A, first Battalion, First Provisional Marine Brigade, Reinforced
Fleet Marine Force Pacific in action against enemy aggressor forces
near Tangsen, Korea, on the third of September nineteen fifty. Pause,
real quick, just a heads up. All these Korean citations
(21:36):
are going to reference the United Nations. Try not to
sneer too hard. That's the way the citation had to
be written, because technically it wasn't US, it was the un.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Okay, all right.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
During an attack on an enemy position, Second Lieutenant Carson,
acting as a tank liaison officer, I'll explain that in
the moment observed that the platoon commander and platoon sergeant
of a supporting tank platoon were seriously wounded, unhesitatingly, he
assumed command of the platoon and skillfully continued in support
(22:08):
of the attack. Shortly afterward, when the tank was hit
by enemy anti tank fire and began to burn, Lieutenant
Carson grabbed the fire extinguisher and, disregarding his own personal safety,
fearlessly and courageously climbed out of the tank in the
face of intense hostile fire and extinguished the blaze, thereby
(22:31):
saving the tank in the lives of the crew. In
his intrepid action, he was struck in both legs by
enemy small arms fire, which knocked him from the tank
to the ground. Despite his severe and painful wounds, he
refused to be evacuated, and, crawling forward to the high ground,
(22:52):
he directed the devastating fire of his tanks against enemy
positions until he was mortally wounded. The dew was shot
in both legs, and he just crawled on top of
a mountain and directed fire until they killed him. I
just want to explain something about this, A couple things
about this.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Armor.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Tanks, well, i'll say tanks, so it's easier to understand
armor by itself. On the battlefield, they're just a bunch
of sitting ducks.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
I know that.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Sounds weird, and I know people, if you're not aware
of this kind of stuff, you may wonder, well, why
don't we just gather up one hundred tanks and put
everyone in the tanks and just drive the tanks forward
and kill everybody. We'll see tanks are unbelievably vulnerable to
anti tank minds. They'll create anti tank minefields, and there's
(23:42):
all kinds of anti tank weapons available out there that
can take out a tank. Now pause on that vice.
Versa infantry without armor. Me, you just flesh and blood.
Human beings without armor obviously extremely vulnerable. I don't know
about you. Bullets don't bounce off my skin. Trapnel tends
(24:06):
to hurt quite a bit. Also extremely vulnerable. But when
you combine armor and infantry, that can be very advantageous.
If you have to sell assault a machine gun position, well,
you get in behind the tanks. Machine gun bullets are
(24:29):
bouncing off the tanks, the infantry is using the tank
for cover. You approach the machine gun position, bub bub bup.
Maybe even the tank gun takes it out vice versa.
The anti tank weapons that are out there. Oftentimes it's
RPGs type things, rocket launchers, that type of stuff. The
(24:50):
infantry can spot it and infantry can take it out
before it takes out all of your armor. You use
each other who protect each other. And if you ever
read Korean war stories, there are endless Korean War stories
of infantry guys saving tank guys, tank guys saving infantry guys.
(25:15):
Myself when I was this is not about me, but
when we were going into Iraq and we were two
weeks I think into Iraq and we were approaching Baghdad.
My company, first Battalion, seventh Marines Alpha company. They snatched
us from our battalion and they attached us to a
tank unit because they couldn't have a tank unit going
(25:36):
into Baghdad without infantry support, and they didn't want an
infantry unit going into Bagdad with that tank support.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
You see.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
So that's how it works. But as we talked about
so many times before, tank guys, they're not only not safe.
They burned to death a lot. I lost a friend
of mine in Iraq lance Corporal Rodriguez. Simplify my brother
and sempify to his family if they're listening. He didn't
(26:05):
burn a drown dust storm. You can't stop. Stopping's not
an option. Had to cross a bridge, couldn't see. I
remember that dust storm like it was yesterday, right into
the river.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Died there.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
It's a dangerous thing. It's not a safe thing. Don't
think it's a safe thing. It's a dangerous thing to
be in a tank. What do you think everyone's shooting at?
What do you think everyone wants to take out you?
If you're pulling guys out of tanks and getting shot
to pieces and crawling forward to help, it's an awesome thing.
John S Carson. In fact, I'm going to read a
(26:41):
couple more from Korea. Then we're going to try to
move on to some other things in just a moment.
Jesse Kelly, it is the Jesse Kelly Show on a
Memorial Day, talking a little bit of Korea. Now doing
some Korean War Distinguished Service Cross citation, and just another
(27:02):
update on the Korean War. Remember, as we went up
into North Korean, the Chinese surrounded us. The Korean War
became a battle for survival. We were up there thinking
we were going to invade, and really reality we were
being surrounded, outnumbered, beyond belief in this frozen mountainous area.
(27:22):
It became a battle for mountain tops, hilltops, I should
say frozen hilltops. You have to grab them, you have
to hold them, and you have to know that the
Chinese will be coming in waves. And the Korean War
is one of the wars where you constantly read stories
about guys who are dug in. Let's say they're in
(27:44):
a defensive perimeter, they're dug in, and the Chinese start
blowing whistles. That's how they signaled things, That's how they
that's how they communicated for the most part, blowing horns
and whistles. Imagine it's the middle of the night, it's
thirty below zero. You're on a hilltop, dug in freezing.
You can't fill your hands with your friends, and the
(28:05):
horns start blaring and the whistles start going, and somebody
shoots off a flare, and like a scene out of
a freaking horror movie, you look down and there are
thousands of Chinese running up the hill with guns and
bayonets to kill you and all of your friends. You
start killing them as fast as you possibly can.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
They're landing in.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Your trench with you your hand to hand fighting, and
at one point they get.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Through your lines.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
This happened all the time in Korea because there were
so many of them. They get through your lines. So
you have to do the unthinkable and grab your weapon
and turn it around and fire inside of your lines
because there are Chinese troops all over the place, and
you find yourself praying to God as I have watched,
(28:57):
In fact, I watched this in a documentary as I
watch Korean War veteran describe he prayed to God as
they were all around him dying, his friends dying, then dying,
and all he prayed was God, let me see the sun.
One more time.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Then we read citations like this for A.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Joseph T. O'Donnell from Kings, New York. The President of
the United States takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service
Cross posthumously to Joseph T. O'Donnell, first Lieutenant Infantry, US Army,
for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an
armed enemy of the United Nations. While serving with Company A,
(29:39):
first Battalion, thirty eighth Infantry Regiment, second Infantry Division, First
Lieutenant O'Donnell distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism and action against
enemy aggressive forces at Mundungni, Korea, on the thirteenth of
October nineteen fifty one. On that date, Company A launched
an assault on a strategic hill strongly defended by a
(30:01):
determined enemy. Lieutenant O'Donnell led his platoon until they were
halted by a heavy barrage of enemy small arms and
mortar fire. Unhesitatingly and with complete indifference to the intense fire,
he placed himself at the head of his platoon and
led them at a renewed assault, during which he charged
and destroyed an enemy position and killed its occupants with
(30:22):
his rifle and grenades. Although wounded by an enemy grenade,
he continued to lead his men in the attack. Knocked
down by a second grenade, he immediately arose again and
continued to direct his men in the assault. In the
patoon's final charge, he was fatally wounded by mortar fragments.
His bravery and spirited leadership were an inspiration to all
(30:44):
who witnessed his actions and contribute immeasurably in the success
of successful completion of the mission. Let me pause for
another moment and read some names of the ones that
got sent in. I haven't read any yetnam way behind
some miscellaneous conflicts, so I'll name the conflict the others.
I'll do it by it in the name of the conflict.
(31:06):
Specialist Jerry Daves, Panama or Davies.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Sorry, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Private first Class Martian Denson, Panama. Corporal Richard Villa Hermosa
via Hermosa, probably Panama. This is this one's called blue
on blue. That would be friendly fire. That's very, very
common in combat. I just said, sometimes you have to
turn your weapon around and sometimes accidents happen. It's very common.
(31:33):
It's no less heroic. Sergeant Carson Holme Quist terrorist attack
that one in Chattanooga. Airman Trevor Mackie Training Accident Lance
Corporal George Dramas Berroot. These two are from the Revolutionary
War Stephen Crosby both captains Captain Stephen Crosby, Captain Herman
Cummings Senior. These are from the Civil War. Private La
(31:58):
Lafayette Bray Civil War, Tim Perkins Civil War, Riley Perkins
Civil War, Robert mcmhnmon Civil War.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
These are from World War Two.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Private William Moore, Private Abner Spear, Private Rgie Axford, Private
William Buell. This is from World War two Staff Sergeant
Salvatore Luciano, Private Gale Charles Staff, Sergeant Virfrail Brown, Corporal
(32:31):
Leo Foursier, Corporal Edwin Wurtz, Major Jack Mathis, Private Alton Cook,
Staff Sergeant Elmer Hessman, Staff Sergeant Bobby Midwerry, Sergeant Roy
good Paster, junior tor pedeman's mate for one, James Jones,
(32:52):
Private Joseph Lesse, Captain Charles Tinley, Technician five rankin Kellogg
Clayton or the Gunner's mate, First Class Clayton New and
drop and we'll get to more and just a little bit.
I want to get to more of these Dissinguler Service
Cross citations. President of the United States takes pride in
presenting the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously to George Andrew Davis,
(33:15):
Junior Major, US Air Force, for extraordinary heroism in connection
with military operations against an armed enemy of the United
Nations while serving as commander of the three hundred and
thirty fourth Fighter Interceptor Squadron, fourth Fighter Interceptor Wing, fifth
Air Force, on the twenty seventh of November nineteen fifty one,
during an engagement with an enemy aircraft near Sinninju, Korea.
(33:37):
While leading a group formation of thirty two F eighty
six aircraft on counter air mission, Major Davis observed six
MiG fifteen aircraft heading southward above the group. With exemplary
leadership and superior airmanship, he maneuvered his forces into position
for the attack. Leading with great tactical skill and courage.
Major Davis closed to eight hundred feet on a Mini
(34:00):
fifteen over Namsi, and he fired on the enemy aircraft,
which immediately began burning. A few seconds later, the enemy
pilot bailed out of his aircraft, continuing the attack on
the enemy forces, Major Davis fired on the wingmen of
the enemy flight, which resulted in numerous strikes on wing
roots and the fuselage. As Mayor Davis broke off his
relentless attack on this MiG fifteen, another MiG fifteen came
(34:24):
down on him. He immediately brought his aircraft into firing
position upon the enemy, and after a sustained barrage of fire,
the enemy pilot bailed out.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Although low on fuel.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
He rejoined his group and reorganized his forces to engage
the approximate eighty enemy aircraft. Making the attack against overwhelming odds.
Major Davis group destroyed two other MiG fifteens, probably destroyed
one and damaged one other.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
We continue next
This is a Jesse Kelly show.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
It is the Jesse Kelly Show. Let's honor the fallen
on a Memorial Day. It is Monday, it is Memorial Day,
and today is a day where we dedicate the entire
show to the people who died in service of this country.
(00:39):
We are going to talk about combat history. I'm going
to read citations, distinguished Service, cross and Medal of Honor,
and we'll talk some Korea. We'll talk some Vietnam, some
Global War on tear, maybe even some World War Two.
We have more names than I may be able to
(00:59):
get to in the show of names you emailed in,
of people you want honored, and I'm going to try
to chop away at all that. But this is not
like our normal shows, as you can probably already tell,
where we goof off and talk politics.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
There won't be any of that today.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I may play some comments from Trump or Vans or
heg Setch, just because they had some wonderful things to say.
But I wanted to make sure you knew as a reminder,
maybe even this is your first time tuning in.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
That today is a sacred day. I believe it's sacred.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
We believe we have a responsibility here on this show
to honor those who gave their lives for this country
on this day. And so that's why we come in.
We do a special Memorial Day show. There won't be
any ads, well, I mean, there'll be commercial breaks, but
there won't be any live reads. There'll be nothing but
history and honoring the fallen. And if I may really quickly,
(01:59):
I want to speak to the families, the families who
may be hurting today. In fact, Trump actually had something
wonderful to say about that.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
The families of the fallen. You feel the absence of
your heroes every day, and the family. He's a great families,
He's a wonderful families in the familiar laugh no longer heard,
the empty space at Sunday dinner, or the want of
a hug or a pat on the back that will
(02:28):
never come again. Every goal Star family fights a battle
long after the victory is won. And today we lift
you up and we hold you high. Thank you, thank you,
thank you for giving America the brightest light in your lives.
It's what you've done. We will never ever forget our
(02:49):
fallen heroes, and we will never forget our debt to you.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
I want to talk to you if you're one of
those family members, and I know we have many gold
Star families. Listened to the show because you know, I heard,
for the longest time in my life, I had heard
people say around different holidays, like Christmas for example, that
(03:15):
this day, please remember, this day can be heavy for people.
And I'll be frank with you, I got what they
were saying, and I never argued with it, but it didn't.
Actually I didn't fully realize what they were talking about
until this past Christmas when my father was gone, and
(03:36):
all of a sudden, it was the first Christmas without
my dad. Memorial Day to people who have lost a
family member or a close friend. Yes, it's a day
where people gather and celebrate, but this is a painful,
heavy day for a lot of people where yes, they
(03:58):
like it and they respect it, but look around everywhere
with the flags and the celebrations and the tombstones and
the stories even that I'll tell tonight, and it hurts
because it is a reminder of what you gave up,
of what the person you lost gave up, and what
you gave up. You gave up your husband, your kids
(04:22):
gave up their father, you gave up your son, and
you don't get to enjoy them ever again on this earth.
And that hurts, and for them who gave their lives.
It's been said before by others, but I'll say I'll
repeat my own version of it. It's about what they
(04:43):
gave up. I'll tell you it hits me hard. Like
this morning, actually yesterday morning, got up and I took
my son's to waffle House, just something dumb. You know,
we were awake and we were hungry. Let's go get
some waffle House. And I knew Memorial Day was coming up,
and thought about guys.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I knew.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
My age guys I was with who are gone now
and they don't get to go to waffle House with
their sons. And really, I know, I know I probably
shouldn't have, but it made me feel a little bit
guilty in a way, a real bad case of survivor's guilt.
Here I am with my two sons, and my buddies
gave it up.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
They don't get to do that.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
If you are one of those family members today or
close friends who are hurting today, just know that the
prayers of the Jesse Kelly Show family, all of us here,
everybody listening, we are with you, and I know that
maybe a small comfort, but it is the only comfort
we can give on a day that hurts. So respect
(05:47):
to you and respect to the fallen. So again a
heads up as to how this show is going to run.
We're gonna talk a lot of war history. I'm kind
of getting I'm gonna do a fairly basic War War
one history on these different conflicts to try to give
some concept of what was happening and what these men
give up their lives for. We're gonna read some Distinguished
(06:09):
Service cross citations tonight, Vietnam.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Korea, Global War on Terror, other things.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yes, Chris, Chris is warning me about the volume of
names we have. Remember I told you to email in
the names of the fallen, name, rank, and conflict because
we want to try to read all them on air
and honor them.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
There are a lot.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
The show has grown quite a bit over the six
years we've been doing it. It may be hard, okay,
but I'm going to try to get to every single name.
The emails like this, Jesse, my great uncle, Melvin Thomas Wyndham,
my grandfather, told me his body finally made it back
to Shelby County, Texas. His mother didn't believe it was
(06:56):
his body. It was common for pieces or parts sent backs,
and on and so forth. Again that's a common thing,
emails like this one. Fred D Smith, sergeant from Wisconsin,
Vietnam War. Fred worked with me in a large rural
cemetery readying it for nineteen sixty eight Memorial Day services,
(07:18):
mowing and clipping around the headstones and placing the American
flag at the veteran's graves. I was a junior and
he was a senior. He enlisted in the army and
went to Vietnam a few months later. I would be
taking care of his grave for the next few Memorial Days.
And there were several other men in my high school
(07:39):
that luckily made it back. So guys like fred D
Smith are who we're going to honor today. Now let's
begin Russia. Going to begin with the Korean War. And
before I get to these citations and start reading off names,
I want to give a recap again for people who
know history or who listen to this show. A lot
some of this stuff may be basic and stuff you know,
(08:00):
but a lot of people don't know, and a lot
of schools don't provide a decent historical perspective. So let's
just talk Korea and how we ended up in that terrible,
terrible war known as the Forgotten War, and men who
gave their lives over there during that Forgotten War. I
know we have Korean vets who listened. So first, post
(08:23):
World War two, it's a very fascinating time in the world.
Just think for a moment what the world is going through.
After it gets to breathe a sigh of relief, Japan
finally surrenders, and the world has just thought a global war.
(08:44):
Think of all the death, all the destruction, all the
financial ruined in various parts from Russia to the UK
to Japan. They're rebuilding cities all across Europe and Africa,
crazy amounts of rubble and lives lost and families lost
and refugees. Okay, so this is really terrible period of
(09:08):
time during and posts World War Two where the world
is trying to figure things out. How do we rebuild,
how do we pay for everything? What do we do?
And the world's trying to figure out how to structure itself,
and it's trying to fare out how to structure itself,
and there are other there are different things at play.
(09:30):
You have Stalin running the Soviet Union. So look, he's
not as nostalgic about the entire thing. He wants to
grab territories. So you're fighting against that. Just okay, there's
a lot going on, and part of a lot going
on is the world starts to unload its militaries. Militaries
(09:53):
are extremely expensive. I mean, look at our budget, our
budget right now. They're proposing a trillion dollar for the
military alone. Armies now and always are expensive. It costs
a lot to raise them, to pay them, to equip them,
to feed them. Militaries are very, very expensive things. They're
a luxury only wealthy countries really can share the burden
(10:17):
of and countries couldn't afford it, including US after World
War Two. So everyone starts dumping their military. Let's disband,
let's dispand get rid of this, get rid of this, get.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Rid of that.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
But there's trouble brewing over there in Korea, and we'll
talk about that next.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Jesse Kelly.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
It is the Jesse Kelly Show on a wonderful, wonderful
Memorial Day.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
As we sit.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Here and we talk about the conflicts and the men
and the things they gave up, and we are honoring
the fallen for three hours to day, and right now
we're about to talk a little bit about Korea. I'm
going to try to give us a briefer recapped on
these conflicts as possible, just because there's so much to
get to. But I want people to understand the conflict
itself and what was happening in the world post World
(11:09):
War Two. The world is broke, the world is in rubble.
They're drawing down their militaries. They can't afford nobody can
afford it anymore. No one wants these large standing armies.
We're figuring out what's going on. But in Korea they've
got a problem. You see, in Korea, the northern part
is governed and dominated by an evil communist. It's the
(11:32):
Kim family in case you're wondering, Just to spoil it
for you, and surprise, surprise, the communists in North Korea
are looking at South Korea and saying to themselves, well.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
I want it.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I think I'll go take it. I don't want half
of Korea, don't I actually want all of Korea? Now,
the world, I said, the world was going through some things,
and I said that to say this.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
World War two was so awful as.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Men, especially men who are getting older and grayer like
I am. As men, we tend to idolize and lionize
World War Two, and I am the most guilty of that.
I'm not pointing fingers, but we do lose sight sometimes
of the fact that it really was the most horrible
thing the world has ever gone through.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Ever.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I don't know that there's ever anything that happened that
brought that much death and misery and destruction and sadness
and just awful things.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
In the world. When it hurts like.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
That, once, to make sure it's very common. Once to
make sure it will never have to hurt like that again.
You know how many times have you heard you know,
it's not just a post Holocaust rallying cry for Jewish people,
never again. You know, that's a rallying cry very common.
That's a common rallying crime for human beings whenever they
(13:02):
go through something terrible. Never again, Never again, can we
allow this to happen? Because it hurts so badly, and
so you're looking around, the world's looking around, and they
want to make sure, how do we ensure that never
again are we going to have to fight this global
horrible thing? Well, we need a couple things. First. We
(13:23):
need a group of countries, like the nice countries, that's
the civilized countries. They'll come together and they'll they'll they'll
mediate everything, you know, United Nations time Baby, and something else.
On top of this group of countries, we need to
make sure nobody is ever allowed to invade another spit
(13:45):
of ground on the planet, ever, for any reason at all.
That was, That was It's a mindset that we very
much share to this day with the Russia Ukraine stuff.
But that was the mindset. Then no country can raise
an army and cross the borders of another country and invade.
(14:06):
If that happens, it must be stopped at any cost.
If it's not stopped, it will end up like Hitler
storming through Europe. Again, an over reaction, but an understandable
reaction to a world, or by a world that had
just suffered the way this world suffered. North Korea invade
South Korea, and the United Nations decides, hey, it's time
(14:30):
to get involved. We have to put a stop to this.
But putting a stop to this it's not letters, it's
not speeches. If there's a standing army with guns and
bombs and men willing to kill.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Then you are going.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
To need guns and bombs and men willing to kill
to stop it. Surprise, surprise, the United States of America
was looked to to shoulder this load.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
They looked to the United States of America and.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Said, hey, of nations, kind of mostly America, you need
to go help. America sent the troops. We didn't have
the troops. Remember, remember we were busy unloading our military
as well. So a lot of these men when I
read some of these things, these guys are freshly in.
Some are World War Two veterans, some are freshly in.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
But we were so short on troops for Korea.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Marines were finishing Marine Corps boot camp on the ships
on the way over to Korea. That is the definition
of green. You don't know anything when you finish boot
camp except how to tie your boots. You don't know
squat and you were going into hell. So North Korea
(15:47):
by now had invaded South Korea and they were pushing
the South Koreans clear down towards the tip. And then
Douglas MacArthur had a good idea. Again, everyone thinks I
hate MacArthur's got It's not true.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
It's not really true, Chris.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
He had a good idea, a very common idea in combat.
His idea was, well, why don't we land behind them,
land behind them, cut off their supply. Not only do
you cut off your supply route of your enemy when
you land behind them, but you are now behind them.
I know that kind of sounds like an obvious point,
(16:23):
but you have created for him a two front war.
Now he has enemies to his front, and now he
has really powerful enemies to his rear. And we land
behind them, and we start stomping the Koreans and we
start running them up north. And now military brass MacArthur
(16:46):
and those types, now they decide.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Well, we have an army. It's here.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
We've got these dirty communists on the run. They're heading
back north. There aren't that many of them. Why don't
we go after them into the north and smash them completely.
Maybe we'll even sniff around China, which is just north
of North Korea. Except Mao was running China at this time.
(17:15):
Mao was already angry with America for our backing of
the nationalists he had previously defeated in Korea, and Mao
was understandably nervous about an American Army making its way
to the Chinese border. So Mao decided to get involved,
and this is when Korea really turned into a living
hell for our guys.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Hang on The Jesse Kelly Show on air and online
at Jesse Kellyshow dot com.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
It is The Jesse Kelly Show on a Memorial Day.
Just to remind you that, uh, there's a lot of names.
There's a lot to get to today. I'm trying. I'm
gonna try the best I can to get to all
of it. But because there was so much to get to,
I am only going to play taps one time this show,
and it's going to round out the show. It's going
(18:05):
to be at the end of the third hour, We're
going to play taps to honor all of these fallen
men we're talking about, and then we will sign off
for the day. Back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow,
back to Korea. Before we start reading some of these citations,
it's one of the creepier things in combat, or things
(18:26):
that I've read about in combat, And.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
I'll put it to you this way.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
When you think there's not somebody there, and then you
start to sniff that there may be someone there, and
then you start to get the idea that maybe there's
a lot of people there in a lot more coming.
As we ventured into North Korea, our military units, Army
Marine Corps, we started to find Chinese soldiers. We started
(18:59):
to take China these prisoners, some of them had been captured,
some of them had simply gone a wall and tried
to escape. And our military starts to get intelligence from
these men that there are a lot of Chinese soldiers
pouring into North Korea. At first we were getting numbers
(19:22):
like one hundred thousand, two, three hundred thousand, numbers so
big the numbers weren't believed. In fact, it went clear
up the chain of command to MacArthur, who was running things,
and he and his guy said, but that's crazy, no way,
there's no.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
No way, except it was true.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Remember, Mao, as big of a piece of trash as
he was, was a seasoned, experienced fighter. He knew America
had air power which he did not have, and so
he waited until nighttime to bring his men in waves
down into North Korea. During the day, they would do
things like sleep in tunnels where they found them or
(20:01):
tie themselves to trees. So the planes flying overhead couldn't
see our guys were heading up into we don't know
a number, four hundred, five hundred thousand Chinese troops, and
our guys are heading into the frozen mountains, the frozen mountains,
(20:21):
and there aren't very many ways up there, and there
aren't very many ways back.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
As our guys.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Pour into the mountains of North Korea, the Chinese Communists
are coming in waves and they are surrounding our men. Now,
up to this point in time, I don't want to
be dismissive of what the fighting was like, but up
to this point in time, it was standard fighting, and
it was about to be as bad as anything you've
(20:49):
ever seen or heard. In fact, let's read a couple
of Distinguished Service Cross citations, shall we. This is for
a John S. Carson of Washington, d C. The President
of the United States takes pride in presenting the Distinguished
Service Cross posthumously to John Spencer Carson, second Lieutenant U. S.
Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations
(21:14):
against an armed enemy of the United Nations while serving
with Company A, first Battalion, First Provisional Marine Brigade, Reinforced
Fleet Marine Force Pacific in action against enemy aggressor forces
near Tangsen, Korea, on the third of September nineteen fifty. Pause,
real quick, just a heads up. All these Korean citations
(21:36):
are going to reference the United Nations. Try not to
sneer too hard. That's the way the citation had to
be written, because technically it wasn't US, it was the un.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Okay, all right.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
During an attack on an enemy position, Second Lieutenant Carson,
acting as a tank liaison officer, I'll explain that in
the moment observed that the platoon commander and platoon sergeant
of a supporting tank platoon were seriously wounded, unhesitatingly, he
assumed command of the platoon and skillfully continued in support
(22:08):
of the attack. Shortly afterward, when the tank was hit
by enemy anti tank fire and began to burn, Lieutenant
Carson grabbed the fire extinguisher and, disregarding his own personal safety,
fearlessly and courageously climbed out of the tank in the
face of intense hostile fire and extinguished the blaze, thereby
(22:31):
saving the tank in the lives of the crew. In
his intrepid action, he was struck in both legs by
enemy small arms fire, which knocked him from the tank
to the ground. Despite his severe and painful wounds, he
refused to be evacuated, and, crawling forward to the high ground,
(22:52):
he directed the devastating fire of his tanks against enemy
positions until he was mortally wounded. The dew was shot
in both legs, and he just crawled on top of
a mountain and directed fire until they killed him. I
just want to explain something about this, A couple things
about this.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Armor.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Tanks, well, i'll say tanks, so it's easier to understand
armor by itself. On the battlefield, they're just a bunch
of sitting ducks.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
I know that.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Sounds weird, and I know people, if you're not aware
of this kind of stuff, you may wonder, well, why
don't we just gather up one hundred tanks and put
everyone in the tanks and just drive the tanks forward
and kill everybody. We'll see tanks are unbelievably vulnerable to
anti tank minds. They'll create anti tank minefields, and there's
(23:42):
all kinds of anti tank weapons available out there that
can take out a tank. Now pause on that vice.
Versa infantry without armor. Me, you just flesh and blood.
Human beings without armor obviously extremely vulnerable. I don't know
about you. Bullets don't bounce off my skin. Trapnel tends
(24:06):
to hurt quite a bit. Also extremely vulnerable. But when
you combine armor and infantry, that can be very advantageous.
If you have to sell assault a machine gun position, well,
you get in behind the tanks. Machine gun bullets are
(24:29):
bouncing off the tanks, the infantry is using the tank
for cover. You approach the machine gun position, bub bub bup.
Maybe even the tank gun takes it out vice versa.
The anti tank weapons that are out there. Oftentimes it's
RPGs type things, rocket launchers, that type of stuff. The
(24:50):
infantry can spot it and infantry can take it out
before it takes out all of your armor. You use
each other who protect each other. And if you ever
read Korean war stories, there are endless Korean War stories
of infantry guys saving tank guys, tank guys saving infantry guys.
(25:15):
Myself when I was this is not about me, but
when we were going into Iraq and we were two
weeks I think into Iraq and we were approaching Baghdad.
My company, first Battalion, seventh Marines Alpha company. They snatched
us from our battalion and they attached us to a
tank unit because they couldn't have a tank unit going
(25:36):
into Baghdad without infantry support, and they didn't want an
infantry unit going into Bagdad with that tank support.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
You see.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
So that's how it works. But as we talked about
so many times before, tank guys, they're not only not safe.
They burned to death a lot. I lost a friend
of mine in Iraq lance Corporal Rodriguez. Simplify my brother
and sempify to his family if they're listening. He didn't
(26:05):
burn a drown dust storm. You can't stop. Stopping's not
an option. Had to cross a bridge, couldn't see. I
remember that dust storm like it was yesterday, right into
the river.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Died there.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
It's a dangerous thing. It's not a safe thing. Don't
think it's a safe thing. It's a dangerous thing to
be in a tank. What do you think everyone's shooting at?
What do you think everyone wants to take out you?
If you're pulling guys out of tanks and getting shot
to pieces and crawling forward to help, it's an awesome thing.
John S Carson. In fact, I'm going to read a
(26:41):
couple more from Korea. Then we're going to try to
move on to some other things in just a moment.
Jesse Kelly, it is the Jesse Kelly Show on a
Memorial Day, talking a little bit of Korea. Now doing
some Korean War Distinguished Service Cross citation, and just another
(27:02):
update on the Korean War. Remember, as we went up
into North Korean, the Chinese surrounded us. The Korean War
became a battle for survival. We were up there thinking
we were going to invade, and really reality we were
being surrounded, outnumbered, beyond belief in this frozen mountainous area.
(27:22):
It became a battle for mountain tops, hilltops, I should
say frozen hilltops. You have to grab them, you have
to hold them, and you have to know that the
Chinese will be coming in waves. And the Korean War
is one of the wars where you constantly read stories
about guys who are dug in. Let's say they're in
(27:44):
a defensive perimeter, they're dug in, and the Chinese start
blowing whistles. That's how they signaled things, That's how they
that's how they communicated for the most part, blowing horns
and whistles. Imagine it's the middle of the night, it's
thirty below zero. You're on a hilltop, dug in freezing.
You can't fill your hands with your friends, and the
(28:05):
horns start blaring and the whistles start going, and somebody
shoots off a flare, and like a scene out of
a freaking horror movie, you look down and there are
thousands of Chinese running up the hill with guns and
bayonets to kill you and all of your friends. You
start killing them as fast as you possibly can.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
They're landing in.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Your trench with you your hand to hand fighting, and
at one point they get.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Through your lines.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
This happened all the time in Korea because there were
so many of them. They get through your lines. So
you have to do the unthinkable and grab your weapon
and turn it around and fire inside of your lines
because there are Chinese troops all over the place, and
you find yourself praying to God as I have watched,
(28:57):
In fact, I watched this in a documentary as I
watch Korean War veteran describe he prayed to God as
they were all around him dying, his friends dying, then dying,
and all he prayed was God, let me see the sun.
One more time.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Then we read citations like this for A.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Joseph T. O'Donnell from Kings, New York. The President of
the United States takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service
Cross posthumously to Joseph T. O'Donnell, first Lieutenant Infantry, US Army,
for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an
armed enemy of the United Nations. While serving with Company A,
(29:39):
first Battalion, thirty eighth Infantry Regiment, second Infantry Division, First
Lieutenant O'Donnell distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism and action against
enemy aggressive forces at Mundungni, Korea, on the thirteenth of
October nineteen fifty one. On that date, Company A launched
an assault on a strategic hill strongly defended by a
(30:01):
determined enemy. Lieutenant O'Donnell led his platoon until they were
halted by a heavy barrage of enemy small arms and
mortar fire. Unhesitatingly and with complete indifference to the intense fire,
he placed himself at the head of his platoon and
led them at a renewed assault, during which he charged
and destroyed an enemy position and killed its occupants with
(30:22):
his rifle and grenades. Although wounded by an enemy grenade,
he continued to lead his men in the attack. Knocked
down by a second grenade, he immediately arose again and
continued to direct his men in the assault. In the
patoon's final charge, he was fatally wounded by mortar fragments.
His bravery and spirited leadership were an inspiration to all
(30:44):
who witnessed his actions and contribute immeasurably in the success
of successful completion of the mission. Let me pause for
another moment and read some names of the ones that
got sent in. I haven't read any yetnam way behind
some miscellaneous conflicts, so I'll name the conflict the others.
I'll do it by it in the name of the conflict.
(31:06):
Specialist Jerry Daves, Panama or Davies.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Sorry, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Private first Class Martian Denson, Panama. Corporal Richard Villa Hermosa
via Hermosa, probably Panama. This is this one's called blue
on blue. That would be friendly fire. That's very, very
common in combat. I just said, sometimes you have to
turn your weapon around and sometimes accidents happen. It's very common.
(31:33):
It's no less heroic. Sergeant Carson Holme Quist terrorist attack
that one in Chattanooga. Airman Trevor Mackie Training Accident Lance
Corporal George Dramas Berroot. These two are from the Revolutionary
War Stephen Crosby both captains Captain Stephen Crosby, Captain Herman
Cummings Senior. These are from the Civil War. Private La
(31:58):
Lafayette Bray Civil War, Tim Perkins Civil War, Riley Perkins
Civil War, Robert mcmhnmon Civil War.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
These are from World War Two.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Private William Moore, Private Abner Spear, Private Rgie Axford, Private
William Buell. This is from World War two Staff Sergeant
Salvatore Luciano, Private Gale Charles Staff, Sergeant Virfrail Brown, Corporal
(32:31):
Leo Foursier, Corporal Edwin Wurtz, Major Jack Mathis, Private Alton Cook,
Staff Sergeant Elmer Hessman, Staff Sergeant Bobby Midwerry, Sergeant Roy
good Paster, junior tor pedeman's mate for one, James Jones,
(32:52):
Private Joseph Lesse, Captain Charles Tinley, Technician five rankin Kellogg
Clayton or the Gunner's mate, First Class Clayton New and
drop and we'll get to more and just a little bit.
I want to get to more of these Dissinguler Service
Cross citations. President of the United States takes pride in
presenting the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously to George Andrew Davis,
(33:15):
Junior Major, US Air Force, for extraordinary heroism in connection
with military operations against an armed enemy of the United
Nations while serving as commander of the three hundred and
thirty fourth Fighter Interceptor Squadron, fourth Fighter Interceptor Wing, fifth
Air Force, on the twenty seventh of November nineteen fifty one,
during an engagement with an enemy aircraft near Sinninju, Korea.
(33:37):
While leading a group formation of thirty two F eighty
six aircraft on counter air mission, Major Davis observed six
MiG fifteen aircraft heading southward above the group. With exemplary
leadership and superior airmanship, he maneuvered his forces into position
for the attack. Leading with great tactical skill and courage.
Major Davis closed to eight hundred feet on a Mini
(34:00):
fifteen over Namsi, and he fired on the enemy aircraft,
which immediately began burning. A few seconds later, the enemy
pilot bailed out of his aircraft, continuing the attack on
the enemy forces, Major Davis fired on the wingmen of
the enemy flight, which resulted in numerous strikes on wing
roots and the fuselage. As Mayor Davis broke off his
relentless attack on this MiG fifteen, another MiG fifteen came
(34:24):
down on him. He immediately brought his aircraft into firing
position upon the enemy, and after a sustained barrage of fire,
the enemy pilot bailed out.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Although low on fuel.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
He rejoined his group and reorganized his forces to engage
the approximate eighty enemy aircraft. Making the attack against overwhelming odds.
Major Davis group destroyed two other MiG fifteens, probably destroyed
one and damaged one other.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
We continue next
Host
Jesse Kelly
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