May 26, 2025 • 34 mins
Honoring those who served in Vietnam
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is a Jesse Kelly Show.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
It is the Jesse Kelly Show. Another hour of the
Jesse Kelly Show. On a very special Memorial Day, as
we honor the fallen. I hope you are having a
wonderful day. I hope you have taken a moment to
honor the fallen. You don't have to sit around crying
all day, or if you feel like it, you are
welcome to sit around crying all day. Prayers for the
(00:38):
families who are hurting, uniquely hurting today. Prayers from us
to you here on the Jesse Kelly Show. Now, we're
gonna finish up with Korea Gere in a few and
then we're gonna move on start talking some Vietnam. I'm
gonna do some more names because there are so many.
In fact, I'll get to some names here in a few.
(00:58):
Let's do another distinguished Sir of his Cross citation and
finish up Korea before I get to that. Because I
know we're going to do some Vietnam, We're going to
do some global War on terror stuff. I want to
caution you against something. It can be tempting. Whether you
fought in one of these or lost someone in one
(01:19):
of these or maybe you're just an observer of some kind.
It can be really really tempting to say things or
think things like what was it all for? What did
he die? Was it worth it? But it was it
even worth it? Whether it's Korea or whether it's Vietnam
or global war on terror, very very very common, very common,
(01:44):
And there's nothing wrong with questioning that stuff. But I'm
here to tell you that's not what this day is
for for me, for one, and for two, it could
be the most unworthy cause in the world. That doesn't
at all change the sacrifice. That doesn't at all change
(02:06):
the bravery. We're here honoring the sacrifice and the courage
and what these men gave up today. I don't sit
around because I'm not doing that to myself. I don't
sit around and beat my head against the wall and
say it was for nothing. That's garbage. Don't do that
to yourself. Don't do that to yourself, all right? Another
(02:29):
one from the Korean War, Thomas J. Barnes from Gasconade, Missouri.
I hope I'm saying that right. The President of the
United States takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross
posthumously to Thomas J. Barnes, first Lieutenant Infantry, US Army,
for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an
(02:52):
armed enemy of the United Nations while serving as executive
officer of Company K, third Ittalion, seventeenth Infantry Regiment, seventh
Infantry Division. First Lieutenant Barnes distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism
in action against enemy aggressor forces at Sakoga, Korea, on
the ninth of July nineteen fifty three. On that date,
(03:15):
Lieutenant Barnes participated in a counter attack to secure a
heavily fortified hill, where the company was suddenly halted and
pinned down by intense artillery, mortar and small arms fire,
which seriously hampered further product progress and forced them and
to seek cover. Pause for a moment. Sorry, no disrespect
to him. I just want to again explain when you're
(03:38):
fighting in this environment, it's about taking hilltops from the
enemy and then holding hilltops once you take them, so
he can't take them from you. In this environment, remember
that big special we did on World War One in
the Alps and mountainous environments. Really all environments, but in
these mountain environments you want the high ground because then
(03:58):
you look down and you can observe everything the enemy's doing.
You can set up your artillery pieces, your mortar pieces
up there and fire down on him. All the advantages
for the guy who has the hill. So if you
don't have the heill and he has the hill, you
have to go take the hill. And then once you
get the hill, you have to dig in because he's
coming back to take the hill back from you. That's Korea.
(04:21):
Obviously there are other parts of it, but that is
so much of Korea, all right, back to this thing here.
On that date, Lieutenant Barnes participated in a counterattack to
secure a heavily fortified hill position when the company was
suddenly halted and pinned down by intense enemy artillery, mortar,
and small arms fire, which seriously hampered further progress and
(04:44):
forced the men to seek cover. Realizing and realizing the
vulnerability of their position and refusing to take cover, he
unhesitatingly left his position with utter disregard for his safety,
moved to a position approximately fifty yards from an enemy bunker.
From this exposed position, he daringly fired several rounds into
(05:07):
the enemy bunker, destroying it completely and killing all the occupants.
The friendly assault forces were thus inspired and encouraged by
Lieutenant Barnes, who, despite enemy fire, moved fearlessly among the men,
urging them to rout the enemy. Finding the company commander
a casualty during the ensuing battle in other members of
(05:28):
the company scattered, he assumed command, quickly reorganized the men
and resumed the attack, Dominating the critical situation through sheer
force of heroic example, he led the daring assault up
the hill, where they were again met with enemy mortar
grenade in small arms fire, making further advance impossible. Concern
(05:51):
for the lives of his men, he calmly ordered them
to withdraw to a trench below the crest of the objective.
He remained exposed on high ground until all had gained cover,
then descending and hesit and hastily jumping into the trench below,
he was hit by an enemy mortar burst that critically
(06:13):
wounded him and killed several others are though although partially
blinded and seriously wounded in the left leg, he attempted
to rise to assist his injured comrades, but collapsed. He
refused medical aid in evacuation until all others were treated,
(06:33):
and he later succumbed to his wounds. That's awesome, man,
that's the kind of man you follow into the mouth
of hell right there. And how many of these names,
how many people ever heard of Thomas J. Barnes. You
just don't think about the names. You don't think about
(06:53):
the deeds and the men who fought. We're gonna move
on from Korea. Actually we're going to go to Vietnam next,
which would be long and heavy. But they called Korea
the Forgotten War because it is largely forgotten sandwich between
World War Two, which is famous in Vietnam, which is infamous,
I suppose, but the Korean War had some of the
(07:15):
nastiest fighting out there. And you know what's so sad,
I mean, in a way admirable and awesome, but so
incredibly sad to me is how many of our guys
in Korea died who had survived World War Two. There
were a lot of World War Two veterans. They really
made up the backbone of the military in Korea because
(07:38):
we had kicked everyone else out. We had, like I said,
we were drawing down the military. Everybody leave everyone out,
everyone out. We don't want to pay for it. But
these World War two veterans. You know, you want to
hang on to these guys with all kinds of combat experience.
So we hung on to so many of these guys,
and they brought that combat experience with them to World
War Two. And they were lions out there in World
(08:01):
War two, organizing our men, getting our men ready, and
in large part there are big reason why the guys
who lived lived. Let's do some more names. These are
world War two names. Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Shea, Corporal Berness Bond,
Private first class Boyd Kimri, Private Neil Jones, Private Edward Gretsek,
(08:25):
Private Leo Crambeer, Private Charles Call, First Lieutenant Baker Telau,
Lieutenant Joseph Cardarelli, fire Controlman two, Julian Rudek, Private first class,
David Scannell, Private first class, James lenn Private first class,
(08:48):
John Corado, Second Lieutenant, Harold Kohn, Staff Sergeant Ernest Esham,
Private first class John Prizwara, Sergeant Frank Serone, Staff Sergeant
Jerome Samberg, Second Lieutenant John Eberhart, Second Lieutenant Niall Surewood,
(09:11):
Chief water tender, Peter Thomas, Fireman first class, Lester Mayfield,
Private Charles Campbell, Sergeant Albert Kinser, Private Varden Williams, Private
first Class Melvin Wyndham, Private first Class Roy good Paster Junior.
(09:32):
There are a lot more I'm going to get to. First,
we are going to switch up gears here and we're
going to talk about another war that it could be
hard to talk about. I know we have so many
Vietnam veterans who listen to this show, and that's something
we take a lot of pride in. So we're going
(09:53):
to talk some Vietnam, and just a moment before we
do that, I'm going to play a couple more. It's
from Trump today. I really thought he did wonder.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
In every generation since at Trenton and Yorktown, at Vicksburg
and Shiloh, and in far away places with names like
Chateau Terrari, Anzio, Ewo, Jima, k Son, Kandahar. Really just
a few chosen names, and these are names that have
(10:26):
become so important on the altar of freedom. They plunged
into the crucible of battles, stormed into the fires of hell,
charged into the valley of death, and rose into the
arms of angels.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Amen, we were gonna, well, I have a long when
I'm gonna read MAC v SOG next Jesse Kelly.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Vaccian.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
It is the Jesse Kelly's Show on a Memoor Day,
honoring as many of the following as we can get to,
and in ways that always seem completely insufficient, but we're
doing the best we can to honor them in the
families they left behind. Now, before I get to this reading,
and I'm about to read something, it's not even a citation,
(11:18):
but it's like four pages long, so it's gonna take
me a few minutes to read it. I'm actually stealing
it as a matter of fact, from these Special Operations
Memorial Foundation. We'll want to make sure they get credit
for this. Before I read the writing of this Vietnam veteran,
and I'm going to read a couple other Vietnam Distinguished
(11:38):
Service Cross citations, I want to remind you about the
specific part of Vietnam that had a higher percentage of
casualties than any other, and that would be MAC the
song you have heard of Delta Force, right, Yeah, these
guys were the ogs of that. The guys who actually
(12:01):
lived through Vietnam were the ones who really guided and
created so much of that. MACVSOG Military Assistance Command Vietnam
and then the SAG portions, says Studies, an observation group
sounds like a bunch of nerds taking pictures, right, except
they were all killers. The bravest said. They did the
(12:25):
most ridiculously brave things. I will tell you, every time
I read about a SOG mission, I'm shocked it was
allowed for them to do this. And I'm not shocked
that so many died, way more than half. I mean,
you just you died. If you went into SG and
stayed there for long enough, you were going to die.
(12:46):
Here's what it was. You know Vietnam. It doesn't matter
whether or not you know Vietnam. You know Vietnam is divided,
at least at this point in time, in the north
and South Vietnam. Okay, right, well, on the western side
side of Vietnam. It always helps. If you look at
a map, like we always say, look at a map
on the western side of Vietnam. What do you see
(13:09):
if you're looking at a map Laos, Cambodia, or at
least that's what you would have seen back then, Laos
and Cambodia. We were not at war with Laos or Cambodia.
Back then Frankly, the Vietnam War wasn't technically either way.
Laos didn't want American troops in Laos. Cambodia didn't want
(13:33):
American troops in Cambodia. The Vietnamese, the Vietnamese knew this.
And remember all their supplies, all their men, they're all
in North Vietnam. But they're trying to defeat South Vietnam.
So what the North Vietnamese did is they moved their men,
(13:54):
their trucks, their equipment. We're talking food, bombs, bullets, everything.
They moved those things in Laos or Cambodia. They went
west outside of Vietnam. And that you've, of course heard
of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It was not one trail,
that's ridiculous, don't ever think of it that way. It
(14:15):
was a gigantic, essentially highway in trail system that was
always being rebuilt and carved up that went through Laos
and Cambodia, so they could move everything down south, and
they thought we couldn't touch them. It didn't take us
long to figure out. It didn't take us long to
(14:35):
figure out what exactly we were dealing with here. We
were dealing with something that had to be dealt with.
I know that's a terrible way to put it. That's
a terrible, terrible way to put it. But we had
to do something about all the men in equipment moving south.
The military came up with an idea, let's take some
(14:56):
green berets. There were seals involved too as well. I
want to make sure they obviously get credit. And we
have to make it all volunteer because it'll be so
dangerous and so many will die. But we will send
smaller teams into these areas to observe where the trucks are,
(15:17):
where the highway, where are the men betting down? Where
are they eating? Because they would start bases right there
were base camps along the way. And then because we
can't send in a large group of ground troops, what
we can do is fly some planes in there and
bomb it to smithereens go observe. And they did so
(15:38):
much more. But they were always, in every sense of
the word, behind enemy lines and deep in enemy territory,
and they had look, there wasn't much that could help them.
They had air that would fly above them, usually in
(15:59):
like a piper cup, like a small plane, and they
would talk to him and he would try to call
in airstrikes when they needed them, and they always needed them.
They would try to call in attack helicopters, cobras, gunships
when they needed them, and they always needed them because
they were always being hunted. It didn't take the North Vietnamese.
(16:20):
This is a very capable army as well. That didn't
take the North Vietnamese long to figure out, we have
a small group of specialists who keep landing here and
they're blowing things up, and they're causing trouble for us.
They're kidnapping people. We were doing prisoner snatches, assassinating people
that we have to get them. And so the North
Vietnamese trained some hunter killer counter recon groups who would
(16:44):
watch these guys land. We would monitor, they would monitor
where our guys were going to land, and then they
would send out these hunter killer teams to go hunt
down our guys and our guys and I'm about there.
I'm explaining this because I'm about to read it. It
gets laid out for you in this writing. Our guys
would sometimes land and they'd be on the run almost immediately,
calling we need to get out of here now, and
(17:06):
they're calling in airstrikes and everything's raining down around them,
and everybody's dying all around them all the time, insane
levels of bravery in SAE. I can't honestly again, it's
so dangerous. I can't believe they allowed people to do it.
But this went on for years, the Secret War in Vietnam.
(17:27):
And I'm about to read you the story of a Lion.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Next the Jesse Kelly Show on air and online at
Jesse Kellyshow dot com.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
It is The Jesse Kelly Show on a Monday, a
Memorial Day, and I can't tell you to email me
the names still, even though we're live here, there are
just so many to get to and I'm not gonna
be able to get to any more than we currently have.
But if you want to email the show, you are
welcome to. Maybe we'll save him from next year. Jesse
(18:03):
at Jesse Kellyshow dot com. Now, I just gave you
just a brief, a brief recap of what MACVI SAG
did in Vietnam. This is something I'm about to read
to you. These are not my words. I don't want
to take credit for them. This is from the Special
Operations Memorial Foundation. Do you want to hear what the
(18:23):
saw guys? Did and why so many died. It's like
four pages, so you're gonna have to stay with me,
but listen to this. His name is John J. Kendenberg.
Specialist five. Kendenberg distinguished himself on the thirteenth of June
nineteen sixty eight while serving with Command and Control North
Forward Operating Base two as an advisor to a long
(18:46):
range reconnaissance patrol of South Vietnamese irregular troops. Pause on
this sorry, the MACV saw guys would generally go out
and there would be only two or three Americans in
the group. Those would be the stud green Beret types.
And then we brought out indigenous troops, either Chinese mountain
tribes or Vietnamese mountain tribes that we trained, and we
(19:09):
brought indigenous troops with us. You're gonna hear that referred
to in this story. The team's mission was to conduct
counter guerrilla operations deep within enemy held territory. Prior to
reaching the day's objective. The team was attacked and encircled
by a battalion sized North Vietnamese Army Force. Specialist five
Kendenberg assumed immediate command of the team, which succeeded after
(19:33):
a fierce fight in breaking out of the encirclement. As
the team moved through the thick jungle to a position
from which it could be extracted by helicopter, Specialist five
Kendenberg conducted a gallant rear guard fight against the pursuing
enemy and called for tactical air support and rescue helicopters.
(19:55):
His withering fire against the enemy permitted the team to
reach a pre he selected landing zone with the loss
of only one man, who was unaccounted for. Once in
the landing zone, Specialist five Kennenbergh deployed the team into
a perimeter defense against the numerically superior enemy force. Just
the heads up, he's probably facing one thousand men, okay,
(20:19):
So when tactical air support arrived, he skillfully directed airstrikes
against the enemy, suppressing their fires so that helicopters could
hover over the area and drop slings to be used
in the extraction team. About half the team pause, they
would drop slings and you would clip onto it and
then the helo would lift you out. They would drop
(20:40):
slings or ladders if the helo couldn't get all the
way down anyway. After half the team was extracted by
a helicopter Specialist five Kennenberg and the remaining three members
of the team harnessed themselves to a sling on a
second hovering helicopter. Just as the helicopter was about to
lift them out of the area, the South Vietnamese team member,
who had been unaccounted for after the initial encounter with
(21:03):
the enemy, appeared at the landing zone. Specialist five Kendenberg
unhesitatingly gave up his place in the sling to the
man and directed the helicopter pilot to leave the area.
He then continued to engage the enemy who were swarming
into the landing zone, killing six enemy soldiers before he
(21:24):
was overpowered. Specialist five kenn birds inspiring leadership, consummate courage,
and willing self sacrifice permitted his small team to inflict
heavy casualties on the enemy and escape almost certain annihilation.
His actions reflect great credit upon himself in the US Army.
(21:44):
Shall I keep going? You know what? No, We'll stop
on that one for now, because there are other ones
I want to get to. You are dropped. This happened
a lot one story I read. You see, there were
rec on teams and then there were hatchet force teams.
There were different kinds of teams, but the recon teams
(22:06):
were in general reconnaissance. Hatchet force teams were more search
and destroy stuff, but we'll focus on the recon teams.
The recon teams oftentimes had the name of US states.
They would be Recon you know, RT Rhode Island, RT Illinois,
something like that. I believe it was RT New Mexico.
A guy was talking about how he had just got
(22:27):
to Vietnam. He just got into Soog and he was
attached to RT New Mexico and he had trained with
URT New Mexico and he was about to go on
his first mission with RT New Mexico. And right as
he's about to get on the helicopter, somebody who'd been
previously injured showed up and said, hey, new guy, you're
sitting this one out. I'm on the team. New guy
(22:48):
sits it out. He's all bummed. OURT New Mexico took
off in their heroes. All Dead that night. All Dead
that night happened all the time. You land behind enemy line,
I don't care how tough you are. It's ten men.
You've got ten men, maybe they've got a thousand. They're
swarming you. You're dead all the time, and think about
(23:12):
the bravery it takes to give up your spot on
the helicopter. There's not another one you are. You are
giving up your life right then and there when they
are swarming your position and there's one spot left on
the helo and you get out and grab your buddy
(23:32):
and you say, you take my spot, you live, I
will die. These are the kind of people we honor today.
That's incredible. Let's do some more names. These are Vietnam names,
all of them. Private first Class Douglas Winschel, Junior Major
Robert Forshay, Hospital Corman three Winston Parker, First Lieutenant, Lance Workman,
(23:57):
Captain Fred Jackson, Lance Corporal Went Wheat, Sergeant Orville Fritz,
Private first Class Philip Michael Callen, Captain Donald Kilpatrick, Specialist
Thomas Fitzpatrick, Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Perry, First Lieutenant Charles Wyatt,
Chief warrant Officer, Too Kenneth Messinger, specialist for Robert Lee,
(24:22):
specialist for David Nelson, Captain Wilburn Gideon, Corporal Dale Gunnell,
Corporal Walter Wickett, Sergeant Chris Peebler, Captain Peter Clearly, Lance
Corporal Robert McCluskey, specialist for Charles Charles mccongall, First Lieutenant
Charles Wyatt, Corporal Wetzel Ramsay, Sergeant Hugh Sexton, Sergeant Tony England,
(24:51):
First Sergeant Luis Pelsari, Airman first class, David Birch, Private
first class Robert Araujo, First Lieutenant Charles Wyatt, Staff Sergeant
Charles Knapp, Private first class Dan Bullock, specialist for Robert Boycourt,
(25:12):
Corporal Charles McMahon, Lance Corporal Darwin Judge, Sergeant Kent Longmire,
Sergeant Michael Mean, Corporal Terry Kawamura, Corporal Edward Cox, Private
Steve Runyon, Private first class Robert Cook, First Lieutenant John Schaeffer,
(25:35):
Second Lieutenant Ralph Avery, Major Francis Fenel, Lieutenant Steve Olson,
Lance Corporal David Cutshaw, First Lieutenant Daniel Kershgeisler, Sergeant Claude Gibbons,
Master Sergeant Errol Bachmann. Specialist for Kenneth Kreuz Kruts, probably Cruts,
(25:58):
Chief warrant Officer Michael Luke, Corporal James Cain, Corporal Eric Johnson,
Major John Oldman, Private first class Ronald Williams, Lance Corporal
Jerry Phillips. We'll do a couple more Vietnam things, and
(26:18):
then we'll move on, maybe do some global War on
Terror things. Read some more names as we chop away
at things here. Probably I probably want to play what
Pete hag Seth had to say about the story of
the Unknown the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. Not well,
whatever I want I want you to hear from Pete
hagg says mouth, and then we'll get back to some
(26:38):
more Vietnam stuff next.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Feeling a little stocky, follow like and subscribe on social
at Jesse Kelly's show.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
It is the Jesse Kelly Show on a Monday, a
Memorial Day, more importantly, and we are doing the best
we can to honor the fallen in a very small
way on the show today, trying to tell their stories
and the conflicts and what they went through. Now, this
is long, and I am not going to interrupt it.
(27:08):
It's way longer than anything I normally play uninterrupted. But
Secretary of Defense Pete hag Seth told a tale. Listen
to it.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
We gather here to honor our very best gone in
their youth, to properly do so we understand who they
are and what they fought for. It is our simple
duty to them in America, with our great experiment in
self government. It is fitting that the most honored and
(27:38):
closely guarded tomb in the land is that of an
anonymous soldier of an unknown rank. When the tomb was
dedicated on November eleventh, Veteran's Day, the unknown received the
Medal of Honor. It's a uniquely American tradition that we
honor anonymous sacrifice above worldly greatness. While we don't know
(28:04):
the Unknown's identity, race, or creed, we know his story.
It's the story of every soldier, every warrior. It's a
simple story as old as war. A young man with
hopes and dreams and loves who's called by his country
leaves behind his hometown, his parents, his siblings, his sweetheart,
(28:29):
all that he knows to go fight a war that
ye may or may not understand. He's called to go
through helen back, to sleep in a trench, to eat
out of a tin cup or on the hood of
a hum v to pray as bullets and bombs thunder
around him, to fear for the bullet or the mortar,
(28:53):
or the ied or the RPG with his name on it.
He does it willingly and stoically because he loves his country,
his brothers in arms, and his family. This is the
story of the unknown, the story of the fallen soldier
who we have gathered today to honor. It is the
(29:15):
story of the American warrior. He answered the call, fought
and died for this republic, the ultimate sacrifice of a
free people.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
I wanted to play that because I wanted to talk
to you really quickly before I do a couple more
Vietnam things, specifically about the MIA. The missing in action
portion of this. This is very, very hard. It's hard
enough for families, but this portion of it is brutally hard.
(29:49):
Sometimes the bodies don't come back, things happen in war,
Bodies get blown to bits taken lost. And even though oftentimes,
for instance Vietnam, if someone went missing an action Vietnam
still classified as Michigan action Vietnam, obviously that person is
(30:11):
very likely not still with us today. That person probably
died that day in the jungle, somewhere, died gone, who knows.
But the family that's already suffering doesn't even get the
closure of knowing. Don't even get the closure of knowing.
You don't know. And I just wanted to say a
special prayer for those people. Keep them in your prayers.
(30:34):
There are people out there right now listening to the
sound of my voice that are going through this, have
gone through this unknown. How hard is that unknown? They
don't even know who it was. Sometimes you can't identify it.
That's how it goes. It's not a clean or wonderful
thing at all. Let's do another Distinguished Service Cross Vietnam
for Eugene J. Connor, Cumberland, Iowa. The President of the
(30:59):
United States takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross
posthumously to Eugene Joseph Conner, Major Artillery, US Army for
extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations involving conflict with
an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam while
serving with Advisory Team one hundred Capital Military District Advisory Detachment,
(31:23):
United States Army Advisory Group, United States Military Assistance Command, Vietnam.
Major Connor distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on the
thirty first of January nineteen sixty eight, while serving as
a member of an advisory team during enemy attacks on Saigon,
(31:44):
when he was informed that a truck carrying twenty military
policemen had been savagely ambushed in an alley in Jia Dinn,
and all the soldiers had been killed or wounded. Major
Connor immediately moved to the battle site and volid tiered
to assist in rescuing the trap victims. The Viet Cong
(32:04):
were firmly entrenched in buildings along the alley and had
set up a fierce crossfire with rockets and automatic weapons.
Completely disregarding his own personal safety, Major Connor led a
small party through the curtain of fire to reach the
trapped men, ignoring bullets striking all around him. He helped
(32:25):
carry the wounded men to safety and then volunteered to
lead a sweeping force to clear the hostile positions. Intense
enemy fire erupted from a nearby building and stalled the
advance of the friendly troops, so Major Connor and one
other man fearlessly charged the fortifications alone. As he neared
(32:48):
the building, he was instantly killed by a Viet Kong rocket.
His gallant and fearless leadership in the face of great
odds was responsible for saving several lives and inspired him
his men to fight furiously in the heat of battle.
Major Connor's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty at the
cost of his life. We're in keeping with the highest
(33:10):
traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself
his unit in the United States Army. We're gonna do
a couple more Vietnam ones here in just a moment.
Before I get to that, I want to do just
some more names. I want to do some Afghanistan names here.
Corporal Mark Goyat, Chief Warren Officer IIE, Matthew Ruffner, Chief
(33:34):
Warren Officer two, Jared Yoder, Major Ray Estelle, Second Lieutenant,
Lieutenant Justin Sisson, Sergeant Bradley Cross, Private first Class Matthew Bertolino,
Staff Sergeant Michael Bach, Specialist Jesse Snow, Staff Sergeant Thomas
(33:55):
walk Up, Junior Captain Matthew Ferrara, Corporal David Sonka, Captain
Nick Razanski, Master Sergeant John Chapman, Specialist Ronald Windrick, Specialist
Pat Tillman, Junior First Lieutenant Jonathan Brostrom, First Lieutenant Jason Man.
(34:19):
We will do some more Vietnam, touch on some Global
War on tear things, and read some more names in
our final hour on Memorial Day. Hang on
This is a Jesse Kelly Show.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
It is the Jesse Kelly Show. Another hour of the
Jesse Kelly Show. On a very special Memorial Day, as
we honor the fallen. I hope you are having a
wonderful day. I hope you have taken a moment to
honor the fallen. You don't have to sit around crying
all day, or if you feel like it, you are
welcome to sit around crying all day. Prayers for the
(00:38):
families who are hurting, uniquely hurting today. Prayers from us
to you here on the Jesse Kelly Show. Now, we're
gonna finish up with Korea Gere in a few and
then we're gonna move on start talking some Vietnam. I'm
gonna do some more names because there are so many.
In fact, I'll get to some names here in a few.
(00:58):
Let's do another distinguished Sir of his Cross citation and
finish up Korea before I get to that. Because I
know we're going to do some Vietnam, We're going to
do some global War on terror stuff. I want to
caution you against something. It can be tempting. Whether you
fought in one of these or lost someone in one
(01:19):
of these or maybe you're just an observer of some kind.
It can be really really tempting to say things or
think things like what was it all for? What did
he die? Was it worth it? But it was it
even worth it? Whether it's Korea or whether it's Vietnam
or global war on terror, very very very common, very common,
(01:44):
And there's nothing wrong with questioning that stuff. But I'm
here to tell you that's not what this day is
for for me, for one, and for two, it could
be the most unworthy cause in the world. That doesn't
at all change the sacrifice. That doesn't at all change
(02:06):
the bravery. We're here honoring the sacrifice and the courage
and what these men gave up today. I don't sit
around because I'm not doing that to myself. I don't
sit around and beat my head against the wall and
say it was for nothing. That's garbage. Don't do that
to yourself. Don't do that to yourself, all right? Another
(02:29):
one from the Korean War, Thomas J. Barnes from Gasconade, Missouri.
I hope I'm saying that right. The President of the
United States takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross
posthumously to Thomas J. Barnes, first Lieutenant Infantry, US Army,
for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an
(02:52):
armed enemy of the United Nations while serving as executive
officer of Company K, third Ittalion, seventeenth Infantry Regiment, seventh
Infantry Division. First Lieutenant Barnes distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism
in action against enemy aggressor forces at Sakoga, Korea, on
the ninth of July nineteen fifty three. On that date,
(03:15):
Lieutenant Barnes participated in a counter attack to secure a
heavily fortified hill, where the company was suddenly halted and
pinned down by intense artillery, mortar and small arms fire,
which seriously hampered further product progress and forced them and
to seek cover. Pause for a moment. Sorry, no disrespect
to him. I just want to again explain when you're
(03:38):
fighting in this environment, it's about taking hilltops from the
enemy and then holding hilltops once you take them, so
he can't take them from you. In this environment, remember
that big special we did on World War One in
the Alps and mountainous environments. Really all environments, but in
these mountain environments you want the high ground because then
(03:58):
you look down and you can observe everything the enemy's doing.
You can set up your artillery pieces, your mortar pieces
up there and fire down on him. All the advantages
for the guy who has the hill. So if you
don't have the heill and he has the hill, you
have to go take the hill. And then once you
get the hill, you have to dig in because he's
coming back to take the hill back from you. That's Korea.
(04:21):
Obviously there are other parts of it, but that is
so much of Korea, all right, back to this thing here.
On that date, Lieutenant Barnes participated in a counterattack to
secure a heavily fortified hill position when the company was
suddenly halted and pinned down by intense enemy artillery, mortar,
and small arms fire, which seriously hampered further progress and
(04:44):
forced the men to seek cover. Realizing and realizing the
vulnerability of their position and refusing to take cover, he
unhesitatingly left his position with utter disregard for his safety,
moved to a position approximately fifty yards from an enemy bunker.
From this exposed position, he daringly fired several rounds into
(05:07):
the enemy bunker, destroying it completely and killing all the occupants.
The friendly assault forces were thus inspired and encouraged by
Lieutenant Barnes, who, despite enemy fire, moved fearlessly among the men,
urging them to rout the enemy. Finding the company commander
a casualty during the ensuing battle in other members of
(05:28):
the company scattered, he assumed command, quickly reorganized the men
and resumed the attack, Dominating the critical situation through sheer
force of heroic example, he led the daring assault up
the hill, where they were again met with enemy mortar
grenade in small arms fire, making further advance impossible. Concern
(05:51):
for the lives of his men, he calmly ordered them
to withdraw to a trench below the crest of the objective.
He remained exposed on high ground until all had gained cover,
then descending and hesit and hastily jumping into the trench below,
he was hit by an enemy mortar burst that critically
(06:13):
wounded him and killed several others are though although partially
blinded and seriously wounded in the left leg, he attempted
to rise to assist his injured comrades, but collapsed. He
refused medical aid in evacuation until all others were treated,
(06:33):
and he later succumbed to his wounds. That's awesome, man,
that's the kind of man you follow into the mouth
of hell right there. And how many of these names,
how many people ever heard of Thomas J. Barnes. You
just don't think about the names. You don't think about
(06:53):
the deeds and the men who fought. We're gonna move
on from Korea. Actually we're going to go to Vietnam next,
which would be long and heavy. But they called Korea
the Forgotten War because it is largely forgotten sandwich between
World War Two, which is famous in Vietnam, which is infamous,
I suppose, but the Korean War had some of the
(07:15):
nastiest fighting out there. And you know what's so sad,
I mean, in a way admirable and awesome, but so
incredibly sad to me is how many of our guys
in Korea died who had survived World War Two. There
were a lot of World War Two veterans. They really
made up the backbone of the military in Korea because
(07:38):
we had kicked everyone else out. We had, like I said,
we were drawing down the military. Everybody leave everyone out,
everyone out. We don't want to pay for it. But
these World War two veterans. You know, you want to
hang on to these guys with all kinds of combat experience.
So we hung on to so many of these guys,
and they brought that combat experience with them to World
War Two. And they were lions out there in World
(08:01):
War two, organizing our men, getting our men ready, and
in large part there are big reason why the guys
who lived lived. Let's do some more names. These are
world War two names. Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Shea, Corporal Berness Bond,
Private first class Boyd Kimri, Private Neil Jones, Private Edward Gretsek,
(08:25):
Private Leo Crambeer, Private Charles Call, First Lieutenant Baker Telau,
Lieutenant Joseph Cardarelli, fire Controlman two, Julian Rudek, Private first class,
David Scannell, Private first class, James lenn Private first class,
(08:48):
John Corado, Second Lieutenant, Harold Kohn, Staff Sergeant Ernest Esham,
Private first class John Prizwara, Sergeant Frank Serone, Staff Sergeant
Jerome Samberg, Second Lieutenant John Eberhart, Second Lieutenant Niall Surewood,
(09:11):
Chief water tender, Peter Thomas, Fireman first class, Lester Mayfield,
Private Charles Campbell, Sergeant Albert Kinser, Private Varden Williams, Private
first Class Melvin Wyndham, Private first Class Roy good Paster Junior.
(09:32):
There are a lot more I'm going to get to. First,
we are going to switch up gears here and we're
going to talk about another war that it could be
hard to talk about. I know we have so many
Vietnam veterans who listen to this show, and that's something
we take a lot of pride in. So we're going
(09:53):
to talk some Vietnam, and just a moment before we
do that, I'm going to play a couple more. It's
from Trump today. I really thought he did wonder.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
In every generation since at Trenton and Yorktown, at Vicksburg
and Shiloh, and in far away places with names like
Chateau Terrari, Anzio, Ewo, Jima, k Son, Kandahar. Really just
a few chosen names, and these are names that have
(10:26):
become so important on the altar of freedom. They plunged
into the crucible of battles, stormed into the fires of hell,
charged into the valley of death, and rose into the
arms of angels.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Amen, we were gonna, well, I have a long when
I'm gonna read MAC v SOG next Jesse Kelly.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Vaccian.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
It is the Jesse Kelly's Show on a Memoor Day,
honoring as many of the following as we can get to,
and in ways that always seem completely insufficient, but we're
doing the best we can to honor them in the
families they left behind. Now, before I get to this reading,
and I'm about to read something, it's not even a citation,
(11:18):
but it's like four pages long, so it's gonna take
me a few minutes to read it. I'm actually stealing
it as a matter of fact, from these Special Operations
Memorial Foundation. We'll want to make sure they get credit
for this. Before I read the writing of this Vietnam veteran,
and I'm going to read a couple other Vietnam Distinguished
(11:38):
Service Cross citations, I want to remind you about the
specific part of Vietnam that had a higher percentage of
casualties than any other, and that would be MAC the
song you have heard of Delta Force, right, Yeah, these
guys were the ogs of that. The guys who actually
(12:01):
lived through Vietnam were the ones who really guided and
created so much of that. MACVSOG Military Assistance Command Vietnam
and then the SAG portions, says Studies, an observation group
sounds like a bunch of nerds taking pictures, right, except
they were all killers. The bravest said. They did the
(12:25):
most ridiculously brave things. I will tell you, every time
I read about a SOG mission, I'm shocked it was
allowed for them to do this. And I'm not shocked
that so many died, way more than half. I mean,
you just you died. If you went into SG and
stayed there for long enough, you were going to die.
(12:46):
Here's what it was. You know Vietnam. It doesn't matter
whether or not you know Vietnam. You know Vietnam is divided,
at least at this point in time, in the north
and South Vietnam. Okay, right, well, on the western side
side of Vietnam. It always helps. If you look at
a map, like we always say, look at a map
on the western side of Vietnam. What do you see
(13:09):
if you're looking at a map Laos, Cambodia, or at
least that's what you would have seen back then, Laos
and Cambodia. We were not at war with Laos or Cambodia.
Back then Frankly, the Vietnam War wasn't technically either way.
Laos didn't want American troops in Laos. Cambodia didn't want
(13:33):
American troops in Cambodia. The Vietnamese, the Vietnamese knew this.
And remember all their supplies, all their men, they're all
in North Vietnam. But they're trying to defeat South Vietnam.
So what the North Vietnamese did is they moved their men,
(13:54):
their trucks, their equipment. We're talking food, bombs, bullets, everything.
They moved those things in Laos or Cambodia. They went
west outside of Vietnam. And that you've, of course heard
of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It was not one trail,
that's ridiculous, don't ever think of it that way. It
(14:15):
was a gigantic, essentially highway in trail system that was
always being rebuilt and carved up that went through Laos
and Cambodia, so they could move everything down south, and
they thought we couldn't touch them. It didn't take us
long to figure out. It didn't take us long to
(14:35):
figure out what exactly we were dealing with here. We
were dealing with something that had to be dealt with.
I know that's a terrible way to put it. That's
a terrible, terrible way to put it. But we had
to do something about all the men in equipment moving south.
The military came up with an idea, let's take some
(14:56):
green berets. There were seals involved too as well. I
want to make sure they obviously get credit. And we
have to make it all volunteer because it'll be so
dangerous and so many will die. But we will send
smaller teams into these areas to observe where the trucks are,
(15:17):
where the highway, where are the men betting down? Where
are they eating? Because they would start bases right there
were base camps along the way. And then because we
can't send in a large group of ground troops, what
we can do is fly some planes in there and
bomb it to smithereens go observe. And they did so
(15:38):
much more. But they were always, in every sense of
the word, behind enemy lines and deep in enemy territory,
and they had look, there wasn't much that could help them.
They had air that would fly above them, usually in
(15:59):
like a piper cup, like a small plane, and they
would talk to him and he would try to call
in airstrikes when they needed them, and they always needed them.
They would try to call in attack helicopters, cobras, gunships
when they needed them, and they always needed them because
they were always being hunted. It didn't take the North Vietnamese.
(16:20):
This is a very capable army as well. That didn't
take the North Vietnamese long to figure out, we have
a small group of specialists who keep landing here and
they're blowing things up, and they're causing trouble for us.
They're kidnapping people. We were doing prisoner snatches, assassinating people
that we have to get them. And so the North
Vietnamese trained some hunter killer counter recon groups who would
(16:44):
watch these guys land. We would monitor, they would monitor
where our guys were going to land, and then they
would send out these hunter killer teams to go hunt
down our guys and our guys and I'm about there.
I'm explaining this because I'm about to read it. It
gets laid out for you in this writing. Our guys
would sometimes land and they'd be on the run almost immediately,
calling we need to get out of here now, and
(17:06):
they're calling in airstrikes and everything's raining down around them,
and everybody's dying all around them all the time, insane
levels of bravery in SAE. I can't honestly again, it's
so dangerous. I can't believe they allowed people to do it.
But this went on for years, the Secret War in Vietnam.
(17:27):
And I'm about to read you the story of a Lion.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Next the Jesse Kelly Show on air and online at
Jesse Kellyshow dot com.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
It is The Jesse Kelly Show on a Monday, a
Memorial Day, and I can't tell you to email me
the names still, even though we're live here, there are
just so many to get to and I'm not gonna
be able to get to any more than we currently have.
But if you want to email the show, you are
welcome to. Maybe we'll save him from next year. Jesse
(18:03):
at Jesse Kellyshow dot com. Now, I just gave you
just a brief, a brief recap of what MACVI SAG
did in Vietnam. This is something I'm about to read
to you. These are not my words. I don't want
to take credit for them. This is from the Special
Operations Memorial Foundation. Do you want to hear what the
(18:23):
saw guys? Did and why so many died. It's like
four pages, so you're gonna have to stay with me,
but listen to this. His name is John J. Kendenberg.
Specialist five. Kendenberg distinguished himself on the thirteenth of June
nineteen sixty eight while serving with Command and Control North
Forward Operating Base two as an advisor to a long
(18:46):
range reconnaissance patrol of South Vietnamese irregular troops. Pause on
this sorry, the MACV saw guys would generally go out
and there would be only two or three Americans in
the group. Those would be the stud green Beret types.
And then we brought out indigenous troops, either Chinese mountain
tribes or Vietnamese mountain tribes that we trained, and we
(19:09):
brought indigenous troops with us. You're gonna hear that referred
to in this story. The team's mission was to conduct
counter guerrilla operations deep within enemy held territory. Prior to
reaching the day's objective. The team was attacked and encircled
by a battalion sized North Vietnamese Army Force. Specialist five
Kendenberg assumed immediate command of the team, which succeeded after
(19:33):
a fierce fight in breaking out of the encirclement. As
the team moved through the thick jungle to a position
from which it could be extracted by helicopter, Specialist five
Kendenberg conducted a gallant rear guard fight against the pursuing
enemy and called for tactical air support and rescue helicopters.
(19:55):
His withering fire against the enemy permitted the team to
reach a pre he selected landing zone with the loss
of only one man, who was unaccounted for. Once in
the landing zone, Specialist five Kennenbergh deployed the team into
a perimeter defense against the numerically superior enemy force. Just
the heads up, he's probably facing one thousand men, okay,
(20:19):
So when tactical air support arrived, he skillfully directed airstrikes
against the enemy, suppressing their fires so that helicopters could
hover over the area and drop slings to be used
in the extraction team. About half the team pause, they
would drop slings and you would clip onto it and
then the helo would lift you out. They would drop
(20:40):
slings or ladders if the helo couldn't get all the
way down anyway. After half the team was extracted by
a helicopter Specialist five Kennenberg and the remaining three members
of the team harnessed themselves to a sling on a
second hovering helicopter. Just as the helicopter was about to
lift them out of the area, the South Vietnamese team member,
who had been unaccounted for after the initial encounter with
(21:03):
the enemy, appeared at the landing zone. Specialist five Kendenberg
unhesitatingly gave up his place in the sling to the
man and directed the helicopter pilot to leave the area.
He then continued to engage the enemy who were swarming
into the landing zone, killing six enemy soldiers before he
(21:24):
was overpowered. Specialist five kenn birds inspiring leadership, consummate courage,
and willing self sacrifice permitted his small team to inflict
heavy casualties on the enemy and escape almost certain annihilation.
His actions reflect great credit upon himself in the US Army.
(21:44):
Shall I keep going? You know what? No, We'll stop
on that one for now, because there are other ones
I want to get to. You are dropped. This happened
a lot one story I read. You see, there were
rec on teams and then there were hatchet force teams.
There were different kinds of teams, but the recon teams
(22:06):
were in general reconnaissance. Hatchet force teams were more search
and destroy stuff, but we'll focus on the recon teams.
The recon teams oftentimes had the name of US states.
They would be Recon you know, RT Rhode Island, RT Illinois,
something like that. I believe it was RT New Mexico.
A guy was talking about how he had just got
(22:27):
to Vietnam. He just got into Soog and he was
attached to RT New Mexico and he had trained with
URT New Mexico and he was about to go on
his first mission with RT New Mexico. And right as
he's about to get on the helicopter, somebody who'd been
previously injured showed up and said, hey, new guy, you're
sitting this one out. I'm on the team. New guy
(22:48):
sits it out. He's all bummed. OURT New Mexico took
off in their heroes. All Dead that night. All Dead
that night happened all the time. You land behind enemy line,
I don't care how tough you are. It's ten men.
You've got ten men, maybe they've got a thousand. They're
swarming you. You're dead all the time, and think about
(23:12):
the bravery it takes to give up your spot on
the helicopter. There's not another one you are. You are
giving up your life right then and there when they
are swarming your position and there's one spot left on
the helo and you get out and grab your buddy
(23:32):
and you say, you take my spot, you live, I
will die. These are the kind of people we honor today.
That's incredible. Let's do some more names. These are Vietnam names,
all of them. Private first Class Douglas Winschel, Junior Major
Robert Forshay, Hospital Corman three Winston Parker, First Lieutenant, Lance Workman,
(23:57):
Captain Fred Jackson, Lance Corporal Went Wheat, Sergeant Orville Fritz,
Private first Class Philip Michael Callen, Captain Donald Kilpatrick, Specialist
Thomas Fitzpatrick, Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Perry, First Lieutenant Charles Wyatt,
Chief warrant Officer, Too Kenneth Messinger, specialist for Robert Lee,
(24:22):
specialist for David Nelson, Captain Wilburn Gideon, Corporal Dale Gunnell,
Corporal Walter Wickett, Sergeant Chris Peebler, Captain Peter Clearly, Lance
Corporal Robert McCluskey, specialist for Charles Charles mccongall, First Lieutenant
Charles Wyatt, Corporal Wetzel Ramsay, Sergeant Hugh Sexton, Sergeant Tony England,
(24:51):
First Sergeant Luis Pelsari, Airman first class, David Birch, Private
first class Robert Araujo, First Lieutenant Charles Wyatt, Staff Sergeant
Charles Knapp, Private first class Dan Bullock, specialist for Robert Boycourt,
(25:12):
Corporal Charles McMahon, Lance Corporal Darwin Judge, Sergeant Kent Longmire,
Sergeant Michael Mean, Corporal Terry Kawamura, Corporal Edward Cox, Private
Steve Runyon, Private first class Robert Cook, First Lieutenant John Schaeffer,
(25:35):
Second Lieutenant Ralph Avery, Major Francis Fenel, Lieutenant Steve Olson,
Lance Corporal David Cutshaw, First Lieutenant Daniel Kershgeisler, Sergeant Claude Gibbons,
Master Sergeant Errol Bachmann. Specialist for Kenneth Kreuz Kruts, probably Cruts,
(25:58):
Chief warrant Officer Michael Luke, Corporal James Cain, Corporal Eric Johnson,
Major John Oldman, Private first class Ronald Williams, Lance Corporal
Jerry Phillips. We'll do a couple more Vietnam things, and
(26:18):
then we'll move on, maybe do some global War on
Terror things. Read some more names as we chop away
at things here. Probably I probably want to play what
Pete hag Seth had to say about the story of
the Unknown the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. Not well,
whatever I want I want you to hear from Pete
hagg says mouth, and then we'll get back to some
(26:38):
more Vietnam stuff next.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Feeling a little stocky, follow like and subscribe on social
at Jesse Kelly's show.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
It is the Jesse Kelly Show on a Monday, a
Memorial Day, more importantly, and we are doing the best
we can to honor the fallen in a very small
way on the show today, trying to tell their stories
and the conflicts and what they went through. Now, this
is long, and I am not going to interrupt it.
(27:08):
It's way longer than anything I normally play uninterrupted. But
Secretary of Defense Pete hag Seth told a tale. Listen
to it.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
We gather here to honor our very best gone in
their youth, to properly do so we understand who they
are and what they fought for. It is our simple
duty to them in America, with our great experiment in
self government. It is fitting that the most honored and
(27:38):
closely guarded tomb in the land is that of an
anonymous soldier of an unknown rank. When the tomb was
dedicated on November eleventh, Veteran's Day, the unknown received the
Medal of Honor. It's a uniquely American tradition that we
honor anonymous sacrifice above worldly greatness. While we don't know
(28:04):
the Unknown's identity, race, or creed, we know his story.
It's the story of every soldier, every warrior. It's a
simple story as old as war. A young man with
hopes and dreams and loves who's called by his country
leaves behind his hometown, his parents, his siblings, his sweetheart,
(28:29):
all that he knows to go fight a war that
ye may or may not understand. He's called to go
through helen back, to sleep in a trench, to eat
out of a tin cup or on the hood of
a hum v to pray as bullets and bombs thunder
around him, to fear for the bullet or the mortar,
(28:53):
or the ied or the RPG with his name on it.
He does it willingly and stoically because he loves his country,
his brothers in arms, and his family. This is the
story of the unknown, the story of the fallen soldier
who we have gathered today to honor. It is the
(29:15):
story of the American warrior. He answered the call, fought
and died for this republic, the ultimate sacrifice of a
free people.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
I wanted to play that because I wanted to talk
to you really quickly before I do a couple more
Vietnam things, specifically about the MIA. The missing in action
portion of this. This is very, very hard. It's hard
enough for families, but this portion of it is brutally hard.
(29:49):
Sometimes the bodies don't come back, things happen in war,
Bodies get blown to bits taken lost. And even though oftentimes,
for instance Vietnam, if someone went missing an action Vietnam
still classified as Michigan action Vietnam, obviously that person is
(30:11):
very likely not still with us today. That person probably
died that day in the jungle, somewhere, died gone, who knows.
But the family that's already suffering doesn't even get the
closure of knowing. Don't even get the closure of knowing.
You don't know. And I just wanted to say a
special prayer for those people. Keep them in your prayers.
(30:34):
There are people out there right now listening to the
sound of my voice that are going through this, have
gone through this unknown. How hard is that unknown? They
don't even know who it was. Sometimes you can't identify it.
That's how it goes. It's not a clean or wonderful
thing at all. Let's do another Distinguished Service Cross Vietnam
for Eugene J. Connor, Cumberland, Iowa. The President of the
(30:59):
United States takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross
posthumously to Eugene Joseph Conner, Major Artillery, US Army for
extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations involving conflict with
an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam while
serving with Advisory Team one hundred Capital Military District Advisory Detachment,
(31:23):
United States Army Advisory Group, United States Military Assistance Command, Vietnam.
Major Connor distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on the
thirty first of January nineteen sixty eight, while serving as
a member of an advisory team during enemy attacks on Saigon,
(31:44):
when he was informed that a truck carrying twenty military
policemen had been savagely ambushed in an alley in Jia Dinn,
and all the soldiers had been killed or wounded. Major
Connor immediately moved to the battle site and volid tiered
to assist in rescuing the trap victims. The Viet Cong
(32:04):
were firmly entrenched in buildings along the alley and had
set up a fierce crossfire with rockets and automatic weapons.
Completely disregarding his own personal safety, Major Connor led a
small party through the curtain of fire to reach the
trapped men, ignoring bullets striking all around him. He helped
(32:25):
carry the wounded men to safety and then volunteered to
lead a sweeping force to clear the hostile positions. Intense
enemy fire erupted from a nearby building and stalled the
advance of the friendly troops, so Major Connor and one
other man fearlessly charged the fortifications alone. As he neared
(32:48):
the building, he was instantly killed by a Viet Kong rocket.
His gallant and fearless leadership in the face of great
odds was responsible for saving several lives and inspired him
his men to fight furiously in the heat of battle.
Major Connor's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty at the
cost of his life. We're in keeping with the highest
(33:10):
traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself
his unit in the United States Army. We're gonna do
a couple more Vietnam ones here in just a moment.
Before I get to that, I want to do just
some more names. I want to do some Afghanistan names here.
Corporal Mark Goyat, Chief Warren Officer IIE, Matthew Ruffner, Chief
(33:34):
Warren Officer two, Jared Yoder, Major Ray Estelle, Second Lieutenant,
Lieutenant Justin Sisson, Sergeant Bradley Cross, Private first Class Matthew Bertolino,
Staff Sergeant Michael Bach, Specialist Jesse Snow, Staff Sergeant Thomas
(33:55):
walk Up, Junior Captain Matthew Ferrara, Corporal David Sonka, Captain
Nick Razanski, Master Sergeant John Chapman, Specialist Ronald Windrick, Specialist
Pat Tillman, Junior First Lieutenant Jonathan Brostrom, First Lieutenant Jason Man.
(34:19):
We will do some more Vietnam, touch on some Global
War on tear things, and read some more names in
our final hour on Memorial Day. Hang on
Host
Jesse Kelly
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