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A Toast in Remembrance of the Fallen...


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  • 1 month later...

Nickel on the grass for another Doolittle Raider.. :beer:

http://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/edward-saylor-1-of-last-4-wwii-doolittle-raiders-dies-at-94-1.326690

SEATTLE — Lt. Col. Edward Saylor, one of four surviving Doolittle Raiders who attacked Japan during a daring 1942 mission credited with lifting American morale during World War II, has died. He was 94.

Rod Saylor said his father died of natural causes on Wednesday in Sumner, Washington.

He was a young flight engineer-gunner and among the 80 airmen who volunteered to fly the risky mission that sent B-25 bombers from a carrier at sea to attack Tokyo on April 28, 1942. The raid launched earlier than planned and risked running out of fuel before making it to safe airfields.

"It was what you do ... over time, we've been told what effect our raid had on the war and the morale of the people," Saylor told The Associated Press in a 2013 interview.

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  • 4 years later...

I came across this article today...What's wrong with the Air Force? We don't have more leaders like Col Andrews.

 

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One of the most decorated airmen of the 1991 Gulf War, retired Col. William F. Andrews, died June 8 of brain cancer. He was 56. Andrews received the Air Force Cross as a Captain for heroism after he was shot down on Feb. 28, 1991. While hanging in the straps of his parachute—and even after breaking a leg on landing and coming under fire from advancing Iraqi ground troops—Andrews continued communicating on his handheld radio, warning two other aircraft to break away and launch flares in response to missiles he saw being fired at them. He was captured, beaten, and held prisoner for eight days, for which he received the POW Medal (See, Call From the Desert from the February 2011 issue of Air Force Magazine). Andrews earned two awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross with "V" for valor in previous Desert Storm actions; one for attacking a heavily defended Scud missile plant and another for providing close air support for a Special Forces team, which was trapped under heavy fire. The team was safely extracted due to his action. In all incidents, Andrews was under continuous fire from missiles, anti-aircraft guns, and small arms. Andrews also received the Legion of Merit as a colonel for managing large-scale rapid deployments of force for operations Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom, while commander of the 366th Wing Operations Group at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. Andrews served on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon from March 2002 to June 2004, and then taught at the National Defense University and Industrial College of the Armed Forces, both at Fort McNair, Washington, D.C., until his retirement in June 2010. In 1998 he wrote the book Airpower Against an Army, chosen for the Chief of Staff's senior officer reading list.

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I came across this article today...What's wrong with the Air Force? We don't have more leaders like Col Andrews.
 
One of the most decorated airmen of the 1991 Gulf War, retired Col. William F. Andrews, died June 8 of brain cancer. He was 56. Andrews received the Air Force Cross as a Captain for heroism after he was shot down on Feb. 28, 1991. While hanging in the straps of his parachute—and even after breaking a leg on landing and coming under fire from advancing Iraqi ground troops—Andrews continued communicating on his handheld radio, warning two other aircraft to break away and launch flares in response to missiles he saw being fired at them. He was captured, beaten, and held prisoner for eight days, for which he received the POW Medal (See, Call From the Desert from the February 2011 issue of Air Force Magazine). Andrews earned two awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross with "V" for valor in previous Desert Storm actions; one for attacking a heavily defended Scud missile plant and another for providing close air support for a Special Forces team, which was trapped under heavy fire. The team was safely extracted due to his action. In all incidents, Andrews was under continuous fire from missiles, anti-aircraft guns, and small arms. Andrews also received the Legion of Merit as a colonel for managing large-scale rapid deployments of force for operations Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom, while commander of the 366th Wing Operations Group at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. Andrews served on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon from March 2002 to June 2004, and then taught at the National Defense University and Industrial College of the Armed Forces, both at Fort McNair, Washington, D.C., until his retirement in June 2010. In 1998 he wrote the book Airpower Against an Army, chosen for the Chief of Staff's senior officer reading list.
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He gave a talk when I was at the Academy. He made the break call over Guard on the PRC-90 and he made the joke that every aircraft within 50 miles broke and released flares. The Iraqis that we're about to capture him shot their rifles when he reached in his vest to grab the radio but since they were all terrible shots he was unscathed.

A toast....
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Being just a civilian and aviation buff, I lurk around this forum, posting the odd YouTube link and sharing what others post with some old timers.  But since we're remembering those who have gone before us, tip one back for this guy for me, gone just over a year now.  He wasn't an astronaut, or a fighter ace but he dedicated his career to the Air Force & the WI Air Guard.  All were glad to know him; I was lucky enough to be his grandson.  

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/obituaries/2018/09/30/kenneth-sweet-survived-pearl-harbor-helped-found-wisconsin-air-guard/1480905002/

https://dma.wi.gov/DMA/news/2018news/18155

 

 

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