North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung stunned the world when he invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950. He shouldn't have; South Korea was ripe for the plucking. The Republic of Korea had only 98,000 troops, of which just 65,000 were combat soldiers. It had no tanks and only 22 aircraft. American support for the South numbered just a few hundred military advisors.

Conversely, Kim Il-Sung's Korean People's Army numbered as many as 200,000, with hundreds of planes and tanks, with 30,000 troops in reserve. The closest American support for South Korea was 300 miles away: the 24th Infantry Division on the Japanese island of Kyushu. 

And that's who the Army sent to help. 
 
Command of all U.S. forces in Korea was bestowed upon Maj. Gen. William F. Dean, then-commander of the 24th. His orders were to send an advance battalion to South Korea as soon as possible to delay the North Korean advance. He sent an under equipped, inexperienced 406-man task force under the command of Col. Charles Smith by air to Pusan (called Busan today) within a week. 

For all of its shortcomings on paper, the men of Task Force Smith made up for what they lacked in experience with the elan one would expect from seasoned veterans. They all volunteered, knowing exactly what they were getting into. After establishing a headquarters in Taejon, they quickly drove north to meet the communists and dug in at Osan.

Task Force Smith held the line at Osan, but the men were outnumbered and ran out of ammunition. Their withdrawal turned into a rout after suffering 60% casualties. Dean then sent the 34th Infantry Regiment to Pyeongtaek to further halt the North Korean advance—a failed effort and a disaster for the Americans.
 
The subsequent American defeats at Chonan and Chochiwan not only crushed morale, but they also pushed the U.S. forces back to Taejon. The city of Taejon was an important transportation hub, and the last stop before North Korean troops reached the then-unfinished Pusan Perimeter. With little more than 11,000 men, Dean and the 24th Infantry Division decided to make a stand against the entire North Korean Army in the south. 

On July 13, 1950, Dean's troops met the North Korean forces outside of Taejon. They had to hold the communists back for seven more days so the U.S. Army could establish its defenses around Pusan. On July 19, the communists entered the city, but the soldiers of the 24th resisted the assault, block by block and house by house. Major General Dean fought alongside them, attacking the oncoming T-34 tanks with hand grenades. 
 
As the North Koreans advanced, so did their tanks. Dean personally directed the fire from opposing American tanks. But Dean and his soldiers were simply outnumbered, and communist forces surrounded the city on three sides. On July 20, he ordered a withdrawal and even stayed behind to coordinate the 24th Infantry's movement. When he did finally leave, his convoy was ambushed along the road, and his Jeep was separated from the rest of his force. 

He found his way past North Korean lines, but stopped to help soldiers who crashed into a ditch. The group was attacked by an enemy roadblock and was forced to escape on foot into the nearby mountains. Somehow, Dean was separated from his group again. He fell down the mountain and was knocked unconscious. When he came to, he found 1st Lt. Stanley Tabor, an officer in his unit. 

The two men were far from safety. They evaded the enemy for six days before a North Korean patrol tried to capture them. Lieutenant Tabor sacrificed himself so that Dean could escape and remains Missing in Action to this day. Dean wandered the Korean wilderness for the next 36 days. He was finally taken prisoner on Aug. 25, 1950. 
 
The 34th Infantry Division may have suffered a tactical defeat at Taejon, but the defense of the city bought time for completing the 140-mile-long Pusan Perimeter and for its defenders to dig in and reinforce their positions. Without the sacrifice of Task Force Smith and the 34th Infantry, the United Nations forces might have been driven into the sea at Pusan.

Dean was a prisoner for the rest of the Korean War, the highest-ranking POW captured during the conflict. He was finally released in September 1953. It was only then that he learned he'd been awarded the Medal of Honor for his leadership at Taejon, and he returned to the United States—and to a ticker-tape parade in New York City.

We are proud to offer our BRAND NEW, HIGH RESOLUTION PLAQUE OF YOUR MILITARY SERVICE, FREE OF CHARGE, ready to print and frame! This beautiful presentation, which will enhance any living room or den wall, incorporates the following special features:

1/ Available in your choice of 2 convenient sizes: 17" x 13.5" and 11" x 8.5".
2/ Highest resolution, 250 DPI graphics for superb presentation.
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4/ A ‘Brief Military History’ section featuring a concise summary of your military service.
5/ Your top 3 full-sized medals plus breast and official badges.
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As veterans, we all know the lore surrounding the World War I Battle of Belleau Wood. It's often called "the birth of the modern Marine Corps." It was where the Marines allegedly saved Paris single-handedly and earned their "Devil Dog" moniker. It was in this spot in northern France that Dan Daly asked his Marines if they wanted to live forever, and Lloyd Williams uttered the now-famous "Retreat, Hell!" 

The mythology surrounding the Corps and the battle is, of course, fascinating. But what's less often talked about is what the Marines were actually doing there (besides killing Germans). 

When the battle began, the United States had been fighting World War I for little more than a year. While the addition of American troops to the trenches was surely a boon for the Entente Powers, the Germans soon got a boost of their own. In March 1918, the Russian Empire surrendered, freeing 50 German divisions for transfer to the war's Western Front. 

The war suddenly became a race to see which side could field its massive influx of troops first. The outlook for the Allied armies of England, France, and the U.S. was not good. That Spring, the German Army launched a massive offensive designed to flank and defeat the British Army and force the French to sue for peace before the Americans could fully deploy. 

It was a costly endeavor in terms of German casualties, but in some ways, it worked. The Germans retook much of what had been lost over the previous two years of fighting and captured new ground, advancing within 60 miles of Paris. 

By June 1, the Germans pushed the U.S. 3rd Division out of Château-Thierry and headed toward Belleau Wood. There, the U.S. 2nd Division, along with the 4th Marine Brigade, the 5th and 6th Marine Regiments, and elements of the 3rd Division, moved in to reinforce faltering French lines. 

The Germans punched through the French and entered the dense, rocky wood with its ravines, boulders, undergrowth, and low cliffs. The Marines dug in. On June 3, German infantry attacked the Marines through a wheat field with fixed bayonets. The Marines waited until they were within 100 yards before opening up on the oncoming Germans. 

Accurate Marine Corps rifle fire tore through the assault wave, forcing the enemy to retreat. The Marines repelled multiple German assaults over the course of the next three days. On June 6, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines and 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines moved on Belleau Wood from the west. They, too, were moving through an open wheat field. 

But the Marines were spurred into action with Daly's immortal line, "Come on, you sons of bitches. Do you want to live forever?"

Like the German advance days prior, the first wave of Marines was gunned down by the defenders. But unlike the previous German advance, the Marines didn't run for their lives; they made it to the German trenches, fighting hand-to-hand to gain entry into Belleau Wood. 

Over the next five days, both sides attacked and countered as the woods were turned into splinters by artillery from both sides. The German Army even tried to stop the Marines with mustard gas. The Marines fought on, pushing north into the wood even in the face of heavy machine gun fire. 

For 10 days, the Marines went mano-a-mano with five divisions from a renewed and well-equipped German Army. On June 15, they were forced off the line to rest and recoup, replaced by the U.S. Army's 7th Infantry Regiment. On June 21, they relieved the 7th Infantry, finding the unit nearly wiped out. 

Marines relentlessly attacked Belleau Wood six times in some of the most brutal fighting in Marine Corps history. On June 26, they finally pushed the Germans back, likely saving Paris from German occupation. The Germans may not have actually called them Devil Dogs, but they did say the Marines were "vigorous, self-confident, and remarkable marksmen."

In June 1944, as Allied ships gathered in the English Channel to launch the historic invasion of Hitler's Fortress Europe, another fleet was gathering in the Pacific. They formed up at Kwajalein, in preparation for the coming invasion of Guam. One of the warships gathered there was the Fletcher-class USS Johnston.

Just a few months later, the Johnston would go down in history for its courageous (albeit suicidal) charge against a more powerful and more numerous squadron of Japanese ships. In facing the enemy ships by itself, the crew of the Johnston gave their lives. 

But in doing so, it prevented the massacre of American escort carriers and bought them time to launch their aircraft. It forced a full Japanese retreat and protected the landing forces at Leyte from being bombarded—saving thousands of lives. 

USS Johnston was launched in March 1943. Upon taking command of the destroyer, Commander Ernest Evans told his crew, "This is going to be a fighting ship. I intend to go in harm's way, and anyone who doesn't want to go along had better get off right now."

Evans had no idea how right he was. The Johnston would be forever remembered for its courage in a fight; specifically, its fight against five Japanese warships off Samar during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

His ship cut its teeth during the 1944 campaigns against the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, then supported Allied invasions in the Solomon Islands. Shortly after leaving the Solomon’s, it headed for Kwajalein and the Marianas. Its record was respectable, and it was assigned to the U.S. 7th Fleet, which was preparing to invade the Philippines. 

Its role in the invasion was to protect the escort carriers USS Fanshaw Bay, St. Lo, White Plains, Gambier Bay, Kalinin Bay, and Kitkun Bay. Alongside the Johnston were fellow Fletcher-class destroyers Hoel and Heermann, along with destroyer escorts Dennis, John C. Butler, Samuel B. Roberts, and Raymond. 

Together, they formed a subunit dubbed "Taffy 3," but Taffy 3 was unaware that the Japanese navy dispatched three fleets to counter the Allied assault on the Philippines—and that the largest fleet was headed their way. 

USS Johnston discovered the enemy fleet on its radar at 6:50 in the morning on Sept. 25, 1944. Shortly after, the Japanese opened fire. They were facing a force of four battleships, eight cruisers, and 11 destroyers under the command of Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita. In the face of this overwhelming firepower, Cmdr. Evans decided to charge.

The Johnston charged toward the Japanese, laying smoke to cover the escort carriers. As it approached, three battleships unloaded on it‚ but every round missed. Unintimidated, Johnston turned on a force of four enemy heavy cruisers, firing 200 rounds from its main guns. The IJN Kumano was set on fire before Johnston fired all of its 10 torpedoes at it.

Once again, the Japanese ships unloaded on the Johnston, and again, all shots missed. The lead ship crippled by a torpedo, Evans turned into his own smoke and headed back toward his escort carriers. As it moved, Kurita's flagship, the battleship Yamato, fired a full salvo from its main battery. This time, the Japanese fire hit.

Johnston was hit below the waterline, and the enemy's 46-centimeter rounds tore through the ship. A second salvo then hit the American destroyer amidships. Mangled, USS Johnston's speed was cut, power to its guns was gone, as were its anti-aircraft guns, torpedo director, and bridge. Evans' hand was blown off in the explosion. 

Crippled but still afloat, the ship was able to catch its breath, hiding in a rain squall. For about 10 minutes, it was able to control the damage and even restore power to its turrets. Evans ordered the Johnston to return to the escort carriers. 

Along the way, it ran into the Hoel, Heermann, and Samuel B. Roberts as they moved to make their own torpedo attacks. In spite of the massive damage his ship had taken, Evans joined them and began firing on an enemy heavy cruiser, laying down smoke as they moved. His damaged ship continued covering the escort carriers even as Hoel and Gambier Bay took heavy fire (and would eventually sink). 

Five Japanese light cruisers then sped toward the American escort carriers. The USS Johnston charged all of them. Johnston traded fire with the light cruiser Yahagi before taking critical hits to its remaining guns. The Yahagi was forced off by U.S. aircraft as Johnston pressed its attack against the cruisers.

The cruisers fired their torpedoes at the escort carriers—all missed—and then turned their attention to the Johnston, shelling it mercilessly and setting it on fire. Evans ordered his crew to abandon ship as it began to split apart. At 10:10, little more than three hours later, the Johnston sank. 

Of the 327 men aboard USS Johnston, 186 died. Commander Evans was last seen heading into a lifeboat, but was never seen again. It's said that the Japanese destroyer Yukikaze saluted the American crew as it sailed by them. 

For their legendary stand off Samar, the crew received a Presidential Unit Citation. Commander Ernest Evans posthumously received the Medal of Honor, the first Native American in the U.S. Navy to receive the award. 

The USS Johnston was found in 2019 (and positively identified in 2021) in more than 21,000 feet of water—one of the world's deepest shipwrecks. 

Do you have old photos from your service days stashed away in a drawer or in a shoe box in your attic? Old photos fade with time and if they are not scanned and preserved digitally, they risk eventually being lost forever.

This is where TWS can help. We have just invested in a high quality Fujitsu book and photo scanner that can scan any size of photo or yearbook. As a service to our members, we would like to offer you a free photo scanning service for your most significant photos from your service which we will then return to you, in original condition, along with a CD containing your photo files.

In addition, we can upload your photos for you to your Photo Album on your TWS Service Profile which will also appear in your Shadow box and available to you to access or download at any time.

Please contact us at Admin@togetherweserved.com for full details on this Free Service.

Lieutenant Commander Michael Hoff was flying a single-seat A-7A Corsair II from the USS Coral Sea over Laos on Jan. 7, 1970. He and the rest of Attack Squadron 86 were strafing enemy ground targets as intense fighting raged near the Laotian city of Sepone. Suddenly, his voice came over the radio: He had a fire warning light and had to bail out.

No one saw a canopy, but one of his fellow aviators reported seeing Hoff's aircraft below him, approximately 2,000 feet above the ground. The aircraft began a roll and, prior to reaching an inverted position, the wingman reported a flash, which could have been the ejection seat leaving the plane. The flight leader only saw its impact in the trees.

A low-level aerial search found the wreckage of the plane, but enemy activity was so intense that a ground force could not reach the area. Hoff has been listed as missing in action ever since. 

Back home at Naval Air Station Cecil Field, near Jacksonville, Florida, his wife and five children anxiously awaited word of their father's whereabouts. That word would never come. 

Mary Helen Hoff decided to join the National League of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia, an activist group founded by Sybil Stockdale, wife of later Adm. James Stockdale, who was then a prisoner of war in North Vietnam's infamous "Hanoi Hilton" prison. 

The League advocated for the release of all POWs and to achieve the "fullest possible accounting" for those still missing in action. Most importantly to Mary Helen Hoff was finding a way to honor those who had not—and would never—return from the service to their country. She knew that the memory of the POW/MIAs needed a recognizable symbol to endure.

Norman Rivkees was the Vice President of Annin & Company, the oldest and largest flag manufacturer in the United States (and still is). His company began its life making flags for President Zachary Taylor, the Union Army during the Civil War, and in 1970, famously made flags for all member states of the United Nations. After Annin made the flag for the People's Republic of China, Hoff reached out.

Rivkees hired Newt Heisley, a New York City ad man and World War II veteran, to design the flag. 

Heisley created the now-iconic black-and-white silhouette of a man with his head bowed in the foreground, with a guard tower and barbed wire in the back. The profile of the man was based on his son, Jeffrey, who had just completed Marine Corps training but appeared sickly after catching hepatitis. 

Heisley added the words "You Are Not Forgotten" because one of his biggest fears while flying missions for the Army Air Forces in the South Pacific was to be taken prisoner by the Japanese and become forgotten himself.

When the flag was completed, Annin & Company asked Mary Hoff if she wanted to own the rights to the flag and its design. She refused. 

"Mom told them it wasn't about owning something that everyone should own," her youngest son, Joe Hoff, later told the Florida Times-Union. The League also declined to seek a copyright or trademark, and the design remains in the public domain.

The League's board of directors approved the flag in January 1972. The POW/MIA flag was first flown over the White House on National POW/MIA Recognition Day 1988, and a permanent version was installed in the Capitol Rotunda on March 9, 1989. 

On August 10, 1990, an act of Congress designated it "the symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing, and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, thus ending the uncertainty for their families and the Nation."

Mary Helen Hoff didn't find out what happened to her husband for another 23 years. A Laotian villager told the U.S. Navy that villagers stripped Hoff of his belongings and left him near the crashed Corsair. His remains have never been recovered. Mary Helen Hoff died at age 84 in 2015, after a lifetime of service and activism.

Together We Served has a growing archive of more than 35,000 Boot Camp/ Basic Training Graduation Photos which we now display on your Military Service Page and Shadow Box. We also have a growing collection of Yearbooks which we will be made available on the site shortly.

We are still searching for Boot Camp/ Basic Training Photos and Yearbooks. So if you have yours available, please contact us at Admin@togetherweserved.com.

Either you can send us a scanned file of your photo or you can send it to us for scanning. We will add this for you to the Recruit/ Officer Training section of your Military Service Page.

All photos and yearbooks will be returned to you in the original condition along with a CD containing your scanned photo.

December 2002 and my wife, JO1 Teresa Frith, is assigned to Naval Media Center Detachment Keflavik, Iceland. It was known as AFRTS Keflavik when I was stationed there from 1974-1976. I am now a dependent and retired Journalist Chief Petty Officer working at A.T. Mahan Elementary School.

It's Christmas Eve. Teresa and I are on Armed Forces Radio-Keflavik in Studio-A doing our weekly two-hour oldies show, "Yesterday Once More." The base C.O., Captain Dean Kiyohara, joins us with “Santa” (a.k.a. Command Master Chief James Newton) taking phone calls during the first hour.

A short time after our guests departed, I received an off-air phone call from a VERY upset listener: “Mr. Frith. Why is the captain so mean?” Asking the girl what she meant, she replied: “It’s on TV. Look!!” I turned on our monitor and, sure enough, there it is on AFN-TV. I told her not to worry, hung up and immediately called the Skipper. “You and Jim need to get Santa back here right now! “You have a MAJOR public relations problem happening right now, Sir.”

THE PROBLEM?? AFN is airing JAG: Season 7, Episode 11. The plot: On Christmas Eve, the Navy is forced to round up and quarantine reindeer that have wandered onto U.S. Naval Air Station Keflavik, Santa’s reindeer! More calls from upset kids come in before “Santa” and the C.O. arrive. One youngster wasn’t terribly upset about the situation unfolding on TV: Mr. Frith. Does this mean that WE get to keep ALL the toys if the captain doesn’t let the reindeer go? Well, our two guests arrive and handle the “problem” perfectly. The skipper explains that what is on TV right now is NOT real. “Santa” chimes in: “We’re just refueling the reindeer with special food before continuing on our job tonight. Christmas is going on as scheduled.”

In or out of uniform, this is one of the most memorable radio shows I ever hosted on Armed Forces Radio Keflavik. Iceland..

If you would like to post your own Military Memory on why you joined the military, click HERE

TWS is building a searchable yearbook archive that will be up and running later this year.

What's in it depends on members like you. We have invested in a high-quality Fujitsu book and photo scanner that can scan any size of photo or yearbook.

Allowing us to scan your book helps family and your brothers & sisters find a photo they may have lost along the way.

If you would like your book scanned, email us at admin@togetherweserved.com. We'll send you a flash drive with the scans when we return your book to you. You'll also receive a tracking link via Stamps.com.

Upon my arrival in Vietnam on March 2, 1969, at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon. I was surprised when a Sergeant walked down the aisle and asked if there was a Lieutenant Kiernan on board?

While sitting in my khaki uniform, I raised my hand, and he asked me to follow him.

He led me to the tarmac and a Fixed Wing Two-Seater Aircraft. Painted blue and with the inscription "Air America" on the tail. The pilot was in civilian clothes and told me to throw my duffel bag in the back seat.

We took off and, after a 45-minute flight, landed in a dry rice paddy. ("Dry Season" in Vietnam is from March until October) He told me to get out and that someone would pick me up. After about 30 minutes, a Blue Jeep arrived with a soldier driving. He asked me if I was "The Lieutenant". I answered, "Yes" and got in the Jeep. I had noticed that the bumper sticker had "OSA" written in black, rather than the traditional array of numbers and letters indicating a Military Unit.

After a 15-minute drive, we arrived at a small compound surrounded by barbed wire and the driver said, "Welcome to Team 43."

Within 30 minutes, I understood that AIR AMERICA was the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) aircraft and that OSA on the Jeep bumper was "Office of the Special Assistant." Code for CIA, as well.

I was so fortunate to learn "First-Hand" the overall CORDS Program that integrated the Department of Defense, State Department and CIA into a combined program that assisted my Vietnamese counterparts in their effort to overcome their enemy. 

Frequently, I was asked to escort VIPs from Washington, DC who were stationed in Saigon. The Head of the CIA, Ambassador Colby was among them. This "One on One" experience facilitated their understanding of the written monthly Reports that were intended to reflect the status of security and military tactical status of the overall Pacification Program.

A Schedule of Daily Operations with MACV Advisory Team 43 began with a Morning Briefing. The sequence comprised of CIA presenting the latest Intelligence on the Enemy in Hau Nghia Province. This was followed by the State Department representative presenting the geopolitical environment, such as routine elections and changes in the Vietnamese political leadership. Finally, as the US Army Operations Officer, I would brief the location and components of the military operations across the Province boundaries. These comprised the US Military forces, the Regular Vietnamese Forces and the Regional and Popular Forces. As such, there were normally five separate operations per day. These involved US soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division based in Cu Chi… The Vietnamese Regular Army and our Regional/Popular Forces (Reserve/National Guard). Once a week, we would receive air assets for helicopter insertion of our troops, and monthly we would support Riverine Operations on the Van Co Dong River which separated Vietnam from Cambodia.

Medical Evacuation of Wounded Vietnamese soldiers was a very challenging operation which occurred on a little or "No Notice" schedule, usually at night following an enemy attack on one of our thirty-three (33) outpost locations. Receiving the notice of an attack came through the "battery-operated" hand-crank phone under my bunk in our barracks room. Next to my bed was a map of our province with colored map tacks to indicate the location and size of our forces located at each outpost. Usually there were 25–30 Vietnamese soldiers on each outpost. An area about 100 yards in diameter and surrounded by barbed wire.

We would transport the wounded on stretchers to the US hospital at Cu Chi. A triage would take place upon landing. Immediate medical attention went to some. A few had died during the flight and others would recuperate.

As the sun rose on the return flight of the empty helicopter, I was never prepared for the sadness and tragedy that had taken place over the last four hours.

Interface with Vietnamese Family
The relationship with my Vietnamese counterpart was friendly and symbiotic. At the end of each day, I was able to teach his children English Language and that instruction helped me understand their native language as well. My most poignant experience was to fully grasp the poverty and daily life schedule of these amazing people. They likened themselves to the "bamboo" in their resilience to adapt to all hardships and dire poverty.

Contrast with American Military Units
The US military units that were stationed in our Province experienced a totally different lifestyle than we did as advisors to the Vietnamese soldiers. They were on base camps with mess halls and running water and electricity. They went on Operations at 8 am and returned at 4 pm. They had showers and mail delivery. We had none. I received six (6) letters from my family during the 12-month tour. 

We had Army Broadcaster, Pat Sajak, as our only connection with Armed Forces Radio, AFRTS. This was best exemplified in the movie, "Good Morning Vietnam" with Robin Williams. Pat went on to Host Wheel of Fortune, until 2024!(Not bad for an Army Private who learned Broadcasting at the Defense Information School at Fort Meade, Maryland!)

The most melancholy moment of my entire 12-month tour was when The Bob Hope Show came to Cu Chi Base Camp which was literally 12 miles from our Vietnamese compound. In 1969, Joey Heatherton was with this show. Joey and I attended the same Catholic high school in Rockville Center, New York, on Long Island. Only nine years before, she was a high school dancer and singer for our school plays.

Lessons Learned
Upon my return to the United States, I quickly sought out local Vietnamese citizens who had been such wonderful "Hosts" to me while I was a guest in their country. I found a young Vietnamese barber to give me a monthly haircut. I felt that I could reciprocate their kindness by maintaining a friendship and expressing my appreciation through acts of generosity.

My dentist was Dr. Mia Pham, who also had other key Americans as her patients, including a State Department Officer, Jim Pardew who would later be our US Ambassador to the Balkans.

The most memorable experience was assisting Mr. Thoi, who owned a Vietnamese restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia. Each year, he would host a dinner in his restaurant for former American POWs such as Senator John McCain. Mr. Thoi was himself a POW to the North Vietnamese.

After he became very ill in 2007, he was concerned that after his death, his wife would be sent back to Vietnam due to the fact that she was not a US citizen, although she had taken the Test twice. Since I spoke Vietnamese, I was able to assist her with preparation for the Naturalization Test. I accompanied her to the US Test site, and she became a Citizen before her husband died. I attended his funeral and have maintained a friendship with his widow and family until this day.
    
As I "look back" 56 years to my assignment as a US Advisor to my Vietnamese counterpart, I consider myself so very fortunate to have Lived with them. Ate Meals with them and assisted in defending them from their Viet Cong enemy. I thank God for having the opportunity to have "Seen that war through their eyes".

TWS has nearly 2 million members who served in a wide range of units, ships, squadrons and duty stations. Get more people to your Reunion by sending your Reunion information to us in the following format and we will post it for free in our Reunion Announcements on Together We Served, in emails that go to our members and in our Newsletters.

Please contact us at admin@togetherweserved.com with the following details of your Reunion:

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"Walk, Run, Fly Again: A Combat Pilot's Return to the Cockpit" isn't a novel, even if it sometimes reads with the pace and intensity of one. It's a memoir about a combat pilot and a catastrophic helicopter crash, one that turned his family life upside down. It's about John Alvarez's long fight to return to the cockpit after an injury that should have ended his flying career, but it's written by his daughter, Lisette.

The book follows Navy Lt. John Alvarez after a 1996 crash in Ecuador that nearly killed him, cost him his left leg, and left him wondering who he is if he could no longer fly.

Lisette is the book's emotional center, and she's not simply retelling the story of a military aviator who overcame impossible odds. She's writing about the event that shaped her childhood—her father's accident, survival, and recovery defined much of her early life.
 
Aside from the unique perspective of a telling memoir written by a close family member, "Walk, Run, Fly Again" has other huge strengths. Foremost, it doesn't treat recovery like a motivational poster. Alvarez's journey is painful, frustrating, bureaucratic, physical, and spiritual. There are surgeries, medical boards, prosthetics, rehabilitation, doubt, fear, and anger. 

There is also his wife, children, friends, doctors, commanders, and fellow service members who refuse to let him disappear into the memories of one terrible day. Or worse. The title lays out the structure: walk, run, fly again, but there's so much more to it than that. Each stage requires him to prove something new, to overcome something in pursuit of his ambition. 

Discipline, grit, and self-control were already part of John Alvarez's ethos before the crash. What he found afterward, he writes in the book's introduction, was that those qualities were not enough on their own. The book returns often to faith, grace, love, and the help of others.

The aviation part of the book will be familiar to military members and veterans. It doesn't skimp on topics like the Air Force Special Operations Command, Navy and Air Force culture, survival gear, crew dynamics, and the habits of the professionals who work behind the scenes of it all. The details are specific enough to satisfy readers who know the community, but are not so dense that civilians will be lost. 

"Walk, Run, Fly Again" is strongest, however, when it shows recovery and reflects on it as a team effort. Alvarez's determination is never in doubt, but the book is about the fact that he didn't do it alone. The aircrew and special operators who saved him, the medical teams who treated him, the family that held him together, and the commanders who gave him a chance all become part of the story. 
 
The book also explores the effects of Alvarez's recovery beyond himself. His story becomes connected to other wounded service members, amputees, pilots, and people trying to reclaim lives that injury or trauma tried to take from them. "Walk, Run, Fly Again" is about more than one man returning to the cockpit. The message is that survival is only the beginning. The harder work is deciding what to do with a life that's still ongoing.

"Walk, Run, Fly Again: A Combat Pilot's Return to the Cockpit" by Lisette Alvarez and John Alvarez is available in hardcover, paperback, and e-Reader editions, starting at $8.99.

Available for Together We Served members only! Together We Served has two hard-working Marines devoting their time and energy to help our members find long-lost friends who are not yet members of our Together We Served.

If you are looking for someone, email us at admin@togetherweserved.com with name, approximate age, where they were from, last known address, marital status, and name of spouse. We'll do our best!

If you wish to make a post to our new Bulletin Board - People Sought, Assistance Needed, Jobs Available in Your Company, Reunions Pending, Items for Sale or Wanted, Services Available or Wanted, Product or Service Recommendations, Discounts for Vets, Announcements, Death Notices - email it to us at admin@togetherweserved.com.

Service Reflections Video of the Month

#TributetoaVeteran - AWOC Matthew Barrett U.S. Navy (Ret) 1998-2022

Are You a Writer?
As you know, Together We Served is always looking for interesting articles to post to our forums and in this newsletter. Have you written any military-related articles you want to share with a broader audience? Send your submissions to admin@togetherweserved.com, and you may see them in an upcoming issue.

TWS Flyers Available
Do you have a reunion coming up and would like to spread the word about Together We Served? We now have flyers that help explain who we are and what we do.

Send your requests to admin@togetherweserved.com. Please include your name, address, and the number of flyers you require.

TWS Invite Cards
Did you know we have Together We Served invite cards you can hand out to any veteran you meet? We have included a handy QR code on the back of the card so prospects can scan it right away to get started.

If you would like some cards, email us your name and address at admin@togetherweserved.com, and we will send them to you.

Do You Work at a VA?

As you may know, TWS has been working with the VA to help our veterans who may be isolated find local veterans for companionship and camaraderie. We also provide a way for them to display their military history to family and friends, and to find those they may have served with for a buddy statement.

TWS has developed several handouts that can be displayed and given to any veteran you believe would benefit from TWS's services. We have a small poster, a brochure, and business cards. We will provide you with the display holders.

If you would like any of these materials, please email me directly at diane.short@togetherweserved.com, and I will be happy to mail them to you.

Your Invite QR Code is now available to download to your phone and share with the veterans you may meet. Scanning this QR code will give you credit for their membership. You receive 6 months of full membership for every 5 people who join through your invite. If 50 people join, you'll receive a lifetime membership!

Military News

DOD Officially Drops 180 Faiths From Military's Recognized Religion List
By Nick Mordowanec Military.com

Military.com has learned that the Department of Defense, for the first time in almost 10 years, has dramatically reduced its number of recognized religious faiths and belief systems by approximately 180.

The reforms mark the first time the list has been officially revised since a memo was issued March 27, 2017, decreasing the total number of faiths from 211 to its new number of 31. The changes were iterated in a May 20, 2026, memorandum issued by the Under Secretary of War and signed by Anthony Tata, Under-Secretary of Defense for personnel and readiness of the United States, and obtained by Military.com.

This latest revision to the faith codes comes at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to the Tata-signed memo, done to "streamline the DoW collection of religious preferences' collection for service members to enhance the delivery of targeted religious support from the Chaplaincy." It calls for the previously instituted faith and belief codes to be revised within a 60-day period from the issuance of the memorandum.

"The new list will provide chaplains with clear, readily available information that will better enable them to anticipate the religious support needs of service members and to provide religious support activities that align with service members’ personal faith and practices," Tata wrote.

He added that members will not be limited to the list of "religious affiliation codes" when selecting information for their dog tags. The revised list, according to documents obtained by Military.com, includes Agnostics, Buddhists, Hindus, Islam (Muslims), Judaism, Sikh, and a wide range of Christian-based groups like Baptists, Catholics, Lutherans and Methodists.

Here is the full list:
Agnostic (AN)
Baha'i faith (BH)
Buddhism (BU)
Christian - Assemblies of God (AG)
Christian - Baptist (BA)
Christian - Brethren (BR)
Christian - Catholic (CA)
Christian - Church of Christ (CC)
Christian - Church of God (CG)
Christian - Church of the Nazarene (CN)
Christian - Episcopal/Anglican (EA)
Christian - Evangelical (EV)
Christian - Jehovah's Witnesses (JW)
Christian - Lutheran (LU)
Christian - Methodist (ME)
Christian - Non Denominational (ND)
Christian - Orthodox (OX)
Christian - Other (CO)
Christian - Pentecostal (PE)
Christian - Presbyterian (PR)
Christian - Quaker (QU)
Christian - Reformed (RE)
Christian - Scientist (SC)
Christian - Seventh Day Adventist (SA)
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (CJ)
Hindu (HI)
Islam (Muslim) (IS)
Judaism (Jewish) (JU)
No Religion (NR)
Other Religions (OR)
Sikh (SI)

This restructuring of faith codes, which help identify service members as well as the military in planning for appropriated religious coverage to include them, has now excluded minority faith/worldview groups including Atheists, Asatru, Deists, Druids, Eckankar, Heathens, Humanists, Magick, New Age churches, Pagan, Rosicrucianism, Shaman, Spiritualists, Troth, Unitarian Universalists and various Wiccans.

It represents a stark change from the memo administered in 2017, during President Donald Trump’s first term. The Armed Forces Chaplains Board at the time endorsed a faith and belief code expansion "to standardize and better identify religious preferences recognized by the military services."

That change at the time was said to better expand religious planning for multiple reasons, including better tracking for more accurate demographic data, better planning for religious support for the force, and providing a better assessment of the capabilities and requirements of each military service’s chaplain’s corps.

Military.com reached out to the DOD, asking what led to the drastic change and removal of countless faiths and beliefs, in addition to whether any concern was expressed by either service members or chaplains. The department was also asked whether members’ lack of individual support could hurt morale within the ranks.

The DOD did not respond to the inquiry.

Larger Push, 'Cultural Shift'
It follows a broader administrative push that critics have described as a military-wide ascent towards Christian theocracy, evidenced by Defense Secretary Pet Hegseth hosting Christian-based prayer services in the Pentagon auditorium with controversial speakers—as well as public statements invoking Scripture when describing the ongoing military operation in Iran, for example.

In December 2025, Hegseth announced his intention "to make the Chaplain Corps great again," prioritizing religious liberty and practice in the military by executing a "top-down cultural shift, putting spiritual well-being on the same footing as physical and mental health."

This latest action comes on the heels of Hegseth announcing chaplain reforms in March 2026. He said his department would be significantly streamlining the number of faith code affiliations for service members, including a separate but related change to replace rank insignia military chaplains wear on their work uniforms with religious insignia.

The faith and belief coding system, renamed to "religious affiliation codes," was simply due to a system that had become too big, according to the secretary.

"The previous system had ballooned to well over 200 faith codes. … It was impractical and unusable, and many codes were never used at all," Hegseth said in March, adding that 82% of members who identify as religious use only six of the codes.

The secretary added that chaplains "are first and foremost called and ordained by God."

'Not the American Way'
A former U.S. Army chaplain who now serves as an endorser told Military.com the revised list is "horrible."

"When I raised my hand to become an Army chaplain, I swore that I would support and defend the Constitution," the individual, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Military.com. "The First Amendment is the free exercise of religion for everybody. That's what I was buying into."

The individual said that oath years ago was never rescinded, which makes the new list "an excuse for the failure to provide the free exercise of religion for all people."

"That's a tragedy and travesty, absolutely," they said. "As far as I'm concerned, that's a violation of the United States Constitution."

The individual said that in the Army chaplaincy, the prime directive is to perform or provide for the free exercise of religion of all service members and their families. Essentially, those who cannot be identified struggle to receive the help they may require.

They described it as a "not-so-hidden agenda."

"There's a lot of faith groups out there that I particularly don't have an interest in, but there are service members who are sending their sons and daughters into the military, and they're expecting pastoral care for their sons and daughters as needed—and I don't think they're going to get it.

"All it takes is the chaplain to say, ‘Well, I don't see them on this list. I don't know how I can help you. Maybe go off the installation and see if you can find anybody who can work with you. Goodbye.' And that's it. That's not the American way."

Changes Ebb and Flow Over Time
Another individual who also spoke anonymously to Military.com is a U.S. Army veteran who served from 2000 to 2010, including three tours in Iraq.

They are ordained in Wicca as a cleric priest, in Asatru as a Gothi, and as a Druid. And on the secular academic side, they hold a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling, divinity, and a doctorate of ministry in interreligious chaplaincy.

When the individual was notified about five days ago of the changes to the coding system, they were reminded of what happened to them more than 20 years ago. During their first deployment to Iraq, as a junior enlisted infantryman struggling with what they were seeing and doing in combat, they went to the unit chaplain for guidance.

The individual claimed that for the following eight months, that chaplain "took every opportunity to use their rank to try and evangelize and convert me." Chaplain recruiting offices would hang up as soon as they found out that they were pagan, and it wasn't until 2007 that they were allowed to have "Pagan" identified on enlisted records and dog tags.

"One of the distinctive religious group leaders that I mentor came across the memorandum and forwarded it to me, and that rekindled that anger that I felt when I was actively discriminated against that started the path towards me becoming a civilian chaplain," the individual told Military.com. "Except, it expanded beyond that because I have endorsed and mentored 26 different lay leaders on different military posts."

The individual, who has attempted to correspond up the ranks to the chief of chaplains plus to Hegseth himself, said their studies have found that spiritual abuse or trauma affiliated with religious beliefs and affecting more than 8-in-10 service members can have negative ramifications like post-traumatic stress disorder.

"Having appropriate spiritual care is paramount for their well-being," they said. "Stripping these codes, stripping the appropriate care aspects and leaving them identified as ‘other’ puts them at a risk of being re-traumatized or re-abused without it being intentional.

"As a licensed counselor and a chaplain and a priest, that is not something that I can idly stand by without pushing back against."

'Middle Finger' to Constitution
The individuals who spoke with Military.com are two clients of among more than 100,000 represented by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), whose client base is roughly 95% Christian.

The organization’s co-founder, Mikey Weinstein, told Military.com that this new DOD list is a "middle finger to the United States Constitution’s separation of church and state." The U.S. Air Force veteran said that codes like this have existed to perform services that sailors, soldiers, Marines, airmen or guardians want.

"Reducing the number of religious faiths from hundreds down to 31 is another absolute, clear, filthy and disgusting, unconstitutional, immoral and unethical attempt to force only the approved solution, getting closer and closer to Christian nationalism," Weinstein said.

He compared the new list to the faiths and beliefs identified by the Department of Veterans Affairs, which recognizes more than 220 belief systems and has more than 80 emblems for headstones.

"So, if you're dead, you'll get your emblem," Weinstein added. "But if you're alive, you can't even get it on your dog tags unless you qualify for one of these faith traditions that in the eyes of Hegseth and other Christian nationalists are worthy of recognition after years of all of the others being there."

This Benefit Cost Catches Many Military Retirees Off Guard
By Kate Horrell Military.com

For members on active duty, Tricare covers one basic eye exam every year for all beneficiaries. Tricare for retirees covers less, and how much less depends on which Tricare plan you choose. Retirees who want more vision benefits have to add another vision insurance plan.

Tricare Vision Coverage for Retirees
For military retirees and their family members enrolled in a Tricare Prime plan, Tricare covers one routine eye exam every two years. You can get that exam from any Tricare-authorized provider without a referral. You will need to pay a co-pay or cost-share, and your specific costs will depend on whether the provider is in-network or out-of-network. This is the most basic of eye exams and does not cover any portion of the examination billed for contact lenses.

Tricare Select offers no eye exam coverage for retirees or their family members.

All Tricare retired beneficiaries do have access to medically necessary ophthalmic services, for conditions such as glaucoma, cataracts, eye injury, or diabetic eye disease, under their medical benefit, just as under other Tricare plans.

Glasses and Contact Lenses
While no Tricare plan covers glasses or contact lenses except in certain medically necessary situations, active-duty service members may be accustomed to receiving their eyewear for free from the military. Retiring folks should plan ahead and be sure they have new glasses before leaving the service.

Other Vision Options for Retirees
Because Tricare’s built‑in vision coverage is limited, most retirees rely on other programs to fill the gap.

Usually the least expensive path is to purchase vision insurance through an employer, either the veteran’s or the spouse’s. In most cases, the cost of this insurance is subsidized by the employer, making it more affordable.

Another option is the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP), which offers multiple vision carriers, each of whom may offer more than one plan within their program. Retirees enrolled in any Tricare health plan (Prime, Select or Tricare For Life) can generally purchase a FEDVIP vision plan during open season or after a qualifying life event.

FEDVIP plans typically cover annual eye exams and provide an allowance or discounted copays for frames, lenses and contacts, often once per year or every other year depending on the plan. It’s important to note that FEDVIP plans do not extend coverage to family members using Tricare Young Adult, making it a less attractive choice if you have family members on TYA.

Some retirees may also qualify for vision services through the Department of Veterans Affairs if they are enrolled in VA health care. The VA may cover eye exams, glasses and low‑vision aids based on eligibility category and clinical need. This coverage does not extend to family members.

Retirees who live in a US Family Health Plan area and enroll in a USFHP may get some limited vision benefits as defined by that plan’s civilian network. Beneficiaries must check with the specific USFHP provider for details.

Some retirees choose standalone commercial vision insurance or membership discount programs, sometimes offered through their various military organizations.

The last option is to self-insure by placing a set amount aside each month to pay for vision care needs. This is a great choice for families who do not wear glasses or contacts or have stable prescriptions that are unlikely to need updating each year.

While Tricare doesn’t offer extensive vision benefits even while on active duty, retiree coverage is even less. Having a plan for your vision costs can be an important part of your overall medical budget, especially for families with multiple people wearing glasses and/or contact lenses. Exploring your options can help you identify the most cost-effective path for your family’s unique vision needs.
                                                                                                                 
Army National Guard Sergeant Spends Over $3K to Bring Back Deported Husband
By Nick Mordowanec Military.com

A Texas Army National Guard sergeant has spent in excess of $3,000 attempting to bring her deported husband back to the states, claiming that federal immigration agencies ignored her military status and husband's citizenship attempts.

Sgt. Nataly Castro, 26, a seven-year veteran who lives in Houston, married her husband, Fredy, on April 9, 2023. Last November, he was deported around Thanksgiving to El Salvador during what she described as a pending family-based immigration case, despite what she claimed was U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) being privy to her military service and the couple's ongoing legal status efforts.

Castro told Military.com that roughly seven months later, she has suffered "prolonged legal, financial, and emotional hardship that continues to impact my ability to serve and support my family." The married couple, who have no children and met roughly six years ago, began the immigration process in 2023 right after their nuptials.

"We've been waiting for this process to just move forward," Castro, an E-5, said. "It took us 2 1/2 years, but at that point he was already gone. We tried to do multiple inquiries with USCIS saying, 'Hey, I'm in the military. Is there a way that he can stay here in the United States?'

"There was something called parole in place or expedited processing for military members, but that was something that for some reason we were never able to work out."

Asked if she knew her husband was not a citizen when they met and later got married, Castro admitted she did know. He never applied for or received a green card, with Castro saying that he originally came into the United States with his mother as both sought asylum.

Military.com reached out for comment to ICE and USCIS.

Routine Appointment Goes Awry
Fredy was on his way to be deported on Nov. 20, 2025, following a routine appointment with ICE.

It was supposed to be routine, at least. Castro said that appointments usually involved a computer check to confirm an immigrant's living situation, possibly leading to some follow-up questions on the case.

"But this time it was like, 'You are being detained," she said. "We let them know that he had an application in progress, that he was a dependent of a military member. And they said, 'Oh yeah? We're just enforcing the law at this moment.' So, they took him, detained him for the next 72 hours."

Fredy spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday in a facility and then was transferred the following Monday to a detention center in Port Isabel, a few miles from South Padre Island and in proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border.

"I was able to see him one day," Castro said. "And the next day I was coming back to Houston, and I was like, OK, I'm going to stay up and see him like before I go back home. He was no longer there. They just took him in the middle of the morning and sent him back to El Salvador."

On Thanksgiving, Fredy called Castro and informed her of his whereabouts. The pair have been able to communicate since, usually through FaceTime or WhatsApp.

Legal Efforts Pile Up
The situation became compounded due to her military duties. Castro was deployed overseas between 2023 and 2024 as part of a mission to Egypt in support of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO).

"While I was overseas, we attempted to request a military expedite based on my active military service and family hardship. But the request was denied," she said. "When I left for my overseas mission, we placed trust in our immigration attorney to properly handle our case and filings while I was serving abroad.

A Texas Army National Guard sergeant has spent in excess of $3,000 attempting to bring her deported husband back to the states, claiming that federal immigration agencies ignored her military status and husband's citizenship attempts.

Sgt. Nataly Castro, 26, a seven-year veteran who lives in Houston, married her husband, Fredy, on April 9, 2023. Last November, he was deported around Thanksgiving to El Salvador during what she described as a pending family-based immigration case, despite what she claimed was U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) being privy to her military service and the couple's ongoing legal status efforts.

Castro told Military.com that roughly seven months later, she has suffered "prolonged legal, financial, and emotional hardship that continues to impact my ability to serve and support my family." The married couple, who have no children and met roughly six years ago, began the immigration process in 2023 right after their nuptials.

"We've been waiting for this process to just move forward," Castro, an E-5, said. "It took us 2 1/2 years, but at that point he was already gone. We tried to do multiple inquiries with USCIS saying, 'Hey, I'm in the military. Is there a way that he can stay here in the United States?'

"There was something called parole in place or expedited processing for military members, but that was something that for some reason we were never able to work out."

Asked if she knew her husband was not a citizen when they met and later got married, Castro admitted she did know. He never applied for or received a green card, with Castro saying that he originally came into the United States with his mother as both sought asylum.

Military.com reached out for comment to ICE and USCIS.

Routine Appointment Goes Awry
Fredy was on his way to be deported on Nov. 20, 2025, following a routine appointment with ICE.

It was supposed to be routine, at least. Castro said that appointments usually involved a computer check to confirm an immigrant's living situation, possibly leading to some follow-up questions on the case.

"But this time it was like, 'You are being detained," she said. "We let them know that he had an application in progress, that he was a dependent of a military member. And they said, 'Oh yeah? We're just enforcing the law at this moment.' So, they took him, detained him for the next 72 hours."

Fredy spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday in a facility and then was transferred the following Monday to a detention center in Port Isabel, a few miles from South Padre Island and in proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border.

"I was able to see him one day," Castro said. "And the next day I was coming back to Houston, and I was like, OK, I'm going to stay up and see him like before I go back home. He was no longer there. They just took him in the middle of the morning and sent him back to El Salvador."

On Thanksgiving, Fredy called Castro and informed her of his whereabouts. The pair have been able to communicate since, usually through FaceTime or WhatsApp.

Legal Efforts Pile Up
The situation became compounded due to her military duties. Castro was deployed overseas between 2023 and 2024 as part of a mission to Egypt in support of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO).

"While I was overseas, we attempted to request a military expedite based on my active military service and family hardship. But the request was denied," she said. "When I left for my overseas mission, we placed trust in our immigration attorney to properly handle our case and filings while I was serving abroad.

"However, when we later reviewed the timeline and case progress, we became concerned that there were significant delays and gaps in filings, including periods of several months without submissions being made."

Other repeated issues she said they experienced included missed or delayed deadlines, limited communication, and a lack of clear guidance on available military-family immigration options. She said that in hindsight, it's believed that additional military-related immigration relief options and programs may not have been fully explored or pursued on the couple's behalf.

$3,000 and Counting: 'Frustrating'
Once Fredy was deported, the legal immigration process became drastically more difficult.

"We are now forced into a much longer and more complicated immigration route through the National Visa Center (NVC) and consular processing abroad," Castro said. "However, even after the approval of our case, USCIS failed to properly transfer our petition to the NVC so the process could continue.

"Instead, we were informed that we now must request a case transfer ourselves, which currently costs hundreds of dollars in government fees in addition to attorney expenses. We were also informed that this transfer process alone may take anywhere from 3 to 12 additional months before consular processing can even begin."

That hardship doesn't end there, she added. Her husband is now expected to file additional immigration waivers, including Form I-601 and Form I-212, which she said will add further delays, legal costs, uncertainty, and extensive processing times.

They have spent more than $3,000, with some forms costing $500 themselves just to submit. Attorneys review the forms, and one was paid to attend an immigration appointment.

"We bought a house together back in August, before the deportation happened," she said. "Back then, we were able to split the expenses of the house. And now that I'm by myself, I have to cover all of that. I have to get another job just to cover the extra expenses, like the utility bill and mortgage.

"Also, now every month, I have to send him money to support his financials as well, to cover his food, his transportation, or anything that he needs like Wi-Fi, electrical bills, water."

Castro was asked if going public with her husband's case considering her military role was a risk. She said it's worth it to be reunited and to exhaust all resources, media or otherwise.

"Every time that we talk to a lawyer or to nonprofit organizations, they're always saying, 'No, this is how it has to be' or 'No, there is no extra route because you're in the military.' Like, it doesn't matter," she said. "I have the feeling like something else can be done. It's just like we haven't reached out to the right people that can help us with the resources."

She added: "We're trying to do the legal route all these years, and it doesn't really matter. It's very frustrating how it's taking us this long. We've seen real cases out there where people are going through the same place, through the same routes, no military background, no nothing—and they are even getting things expedited or faster than we do."

Bruce Crandall, Medal of Honor Pilot Who Flew 22 Rescue Missions at Ia Drang, Dies at 93
By Allen Frazier Military.com

Retired Army Col. Bruce P. Crandall, who flew an unarmed helicopter through heavy fire into the Ia Drang Valley repeatedly to bring out the wounded, died at his Tempe, Ariz., home on May 31. He was 93.

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society announced his death. Crandall received the nation’s highest award for valor for what he did on Nov. 14, 1965, when American and North Vietnamese regular forces met in their first major battle.

By the end of that day, then-Maj. Crandall had flown into Landing Zone X-Ray 22 times, going back long after the ground commander had closed the field to other aircraft and the medical evacuation crews had stopped flying. His helicopters carried out roughly 70 wounded troopers and brought in the ammunition the embattled battalion needed to hold its ground.

The Battle of Ia Drang
Crandall grew up in Olympia, Wash., an All-American high school baseball player who went on to the University of Washington and dreamed of reaching the New York Yankees. He had joined the Army National Guard at just 15. The regular Army eventually drafted him in 1953, commissioned him the next year and trained him to fly both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.

During the early years of his career, the Army sent him to map terrain in Alaska, to fly survey runs over the North African desert from a base in Libya and to chart unmapped stretches of Central and South America.

By 1965, Major Crandall commanded Company A of the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion in the 1st Cavalry Division, the Army’s new airmobile division. He deployed with the unit to Vietnam later that year. That November, the unit began carrying soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment into the Ia Drang Valley.

On Nov. 14, Crandall led 16 helicopters into Landing Zone X-Ray, where the soldiers they dropped off were soon pinned by a North Vietnamese assault. As other aircraft turned back, Crandall and his wingman, Capt. Ed "Too Tall" Freeman, kept flying into the zone in unarmed Hueys, carrying ammunition in and getting the wounded out. Crandall flew under the call sign Ancient Serpent 6, which his crews turned into the nickname "Old Snake."

"There was never a consideration that we would not go into those landing zones," he said. "They were my people down there, and they trusted in me to come and get them."

Ia Drang was not his last such rescue. During Operation Masher in January 1966, with nothing but a flashlight to find his way and enemy fire all around him, Crandall brought his Huey down through the jungle twice to lift out a dozen wounded men, work that won him a national award for helicopter heroism.

Across two tours, he flew more than 900 combat missions and came away with the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and 24 Air Medals. He was severely wounded during another rescue attempt in 1968. He retired from the Army in 1977 as a lieutenant colonel.

His actions at Ia Drang first earned him the Distinguished Service Cross, the same award Freeman received. Decades later, both were upgraded to the Medal of Honor.

Crandall’s Later Years
Crandall accepted the Medal of Honor from President George W. Bush in the East Room of the White House on Feb. 26, 2007, 41 years after Ia Drang.

Bush spoke of Crandall and the soldiers who fought beside him.

"In men like Bruce Crandall, we really see the best of America," President Bush said. "He and his fellow soldiers were brave, brave folks. They were as noble and selfless as any who have ever worn our nation’s uniform."

The medal might have reached Crandall sooner. Once he learned he was being considered alongside Freeman, he stepped aside and pushed for his wingman to be recognized first. Freeman was honored in 2001 and died in 2008. Crandall’s own ceremony came six years after his friend’s.

The story reached a far wider audience through "We Were Soldiers Once … and Young," the bestselling account by Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and the war correspondent Joseph Galloway. The 2002 film drawn from it, "We Were Soldiers," cast Greg Kinnear as Crandall.

His wife, Arlene, whom he married in 1956, was at the White House for the ceremony and died in 2010. Crandall is survived by three sons, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

His death leaves just 62 living recipients of the Medal of Honor.

Vietnam Veteran and Daughter Sue VA for Agent Orange Birth Defect Benefits
By Allen Frazier Military.com

A Connecticut Army veteran and his daughter filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the Department of Veterans Affairs, arguing that a law denying her disability benefits because her father and not her mother served in Vietnam amounts to unconstitutional sex discrimination.

Ron Christoforo enlisted in the Army at 22 in 1969 and spent a year in Vietnam as a telecommunications technician attached to the 5th Special Forces Group. His daughter Michele, 33, was born with achondroplasia, a genetic disorder that causes dwarfism. Neither parent has a family history of the condition.

The VA recognizes achondroplasia as a covered birth defect for children of Vietnam veterans. But under federal law, only the children of women who served in Vietnam are eligible for benefits tied to those conditions. Because Ron is Michele's veteran parent, not her mother, the VA denied her claim.

"When the VA rejected my claim, they didn't say my condition wasn't real or that it wasn't caused by Agent Orange," Michele Christoforo said at a press conference at Yale Law School. "They said my father's service didn't count the same as a mother's would. How can that be legal?"

The Christoforos' Legal Challenge
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, targets 38 U.S.C. §§ 1811-1816, a provision of the Veterans Benefits and Health Care Improvement Act of 2000. The complaint argues the statute violates the Fifth Amendment's equal protection guarantee by conditioning benefits on the sex of a child's veteran parent.

The complaint cites Sessions v. Morales-Santana, a 2017 Supreme Court ruling that invalidated a sex-based distinction in immigration law that treated children of unwed citizen fathers differently from children of unwed citizen mothers. The Christoforos argue the same principle applies here.

Yale Law School's Veterans Legal Services Clinic represents the family. The clinic is part of the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization. Michael J. Wishnie and Ashley Anderson lead the legal team alongside student interns Charlotte Densmore, Natalie Kelly and Kegan Strawn.

Ron said he first looked into Agent Orange benefits for Michele about 10 years ago and found that her condition was listed but marked as eligible only for children of women veterans. He was shocked but did not pursue it further at the time.

A friend who had spent years researching Agent Orange and its effects gave him papers documenting the connection. That friend recently passed away. Ron said Little People of America also told him that when two parents without the condition have a child with achondroplasia, the father carries the genetic mutation.

Ron first applied for VA benefits for Michele in January 2022, according to the complaint. The VA rejected her claim in March, stating that for birth defects other than spina bifida, the child's mother must have served in Vietnam or Korea.

Michele applied again on March 9, 2026. The VA denied her application on April 14, stating that the only allowable benefit for children of male Vietnam veterans is spina bifida. The denial did not dispute her diagnosis or the link between Agent Orange and achondroplasia.

Densmore told Military.com that any child of a male Vietnam veteran who applies for benefits beyond spina bifida is administratively denied because of the statute's sex-based restriction.

"The sacrifice that I made, that our family made, is worthless, because of my sex," Ron told WTNH. "I don't know how else to say that, but it is wrong."

The suit asks the court to declare the sex-based distinction unconstitutional and order the VA to extend benefits equally to all qualifying children of Vietnam veterans.

An Estimated 350,000 Children Excluded
The gap in coverage affects a population far larger than the current law serves. Roughly 200 children with birth defects have been born to women who served in Vietnam, according to the complaint.

Male Vietnam veterans, by contrast, are estimated to have fathered about 350,000 children with birth defects.

The Veterans Legal Services Clinic said it has heard from many veterans' children who have been denied benefits the same way, and that many others never apply because they know the VA will reject them.

That estimate draws on CDC and VA data showing a birth defect rate of 64.6 per 1,000 among the children of Vietnam veterans, multiplied across roughly 3.6 million children fathered by male veterans after the war.

Congress first authorized benefits in 1996 for children of Vietnam veterans born with spina bifida, applying the provision to children of both men and women. In 2000, lawmakers expanded the list to 18 covered birth defects but limited eligibility to children of women who served in Vietnam.

"I voluntarily enlisted in the Army, and I'm proud that I did. At the time, I didn't know what Agent Orange would do to my family. None of us did," Ron said at the press conference. "But now we do; fathers pass genetic mutations like dwarfism to their children. Decades later, my daughter is being denied help that other veterans' children receive just because I'm her father. She deserves the same benefits any other veteran's child would get."

When the law was enacted, scientific understanding of how genetic damage passes from fathers to children was limited. The original Ranch Hand Study, which tracked Air Force personnel involved in aerial herbicide spraying in Vietnam, had produced inconclusive findings on the question.

Research since then has changed that scientific understanding. A 2018 reanalysis of the Ranch Hand data by researcher George Knafl, published in the Open Journal of Epidemiology, confirmed that paternal exposure to Agent Orange contributed to birth defects in veterans' children.

A separate 2016 ProPublica analysis of more than 37,500 veterans in the VA's own Agent Orange Registry found that exposed veterans were significantly more likely to father children with birth defects than those who were not exposed.

The complaint cites multiple peer-reviewed studies showing that dioxin, the toxic contaminant in Agent Orange, primarily damages reproductive cells in fathers through a process called germline mutation. Achondroplasia is caused by this type of mutation, tying the condition to paternal exposure rather than to pregnancy or gestation.

Benefits available to eligible children include monthly compensation payments ranging from $201 to $2,479, depending on severity, health care through the Children of Women Vietnam Veterans program and up to 24 months of vocational training.

Michele works as a veterinary technician at Durham Veterinary Hospital. She told the CT Mirror that her condition affects every part of daily life.

"I have to have things adapted to me. I'm 4 feet 2 inches. I can't reach normal counter heights. I cannot reach a sink without a step stool," she said. "I get lots of pains in my legs and knees."

Michele told Military.com that a favorable ruling would allow her to live independently.

"My parents are getting older. Right now, their house is accommodated for me, but it's getting harder for them," she said. "I could get myself a small condo, kitchen my height, bathroom my height, customize my furniture."

The Christoforo family has modified their home with lower sinks, toilets, counters, cabinets and vehicle pedal extensions to accommodate Michele. Michele noted the modifications have grown more difficult for her parents as they age.

Individuals with achondroplasia also face a life expectancy roughly 10 years shorter than the general population.

Legislative Push and Broader Support
Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, appeared alongside the Christoforos at the Yale press conference.

"Michele's condition is real, her father's service is unquestionable, and the damage caused by Agent Orange is well-documented," Blumenthal said. "Denying her VA benefits solely because her father served rather than her mother is both unjust and cruel."

Blumenthal has separately pushed legislation aimed at the broader research gap. The Molly R. Loomis Research for Descendants of Toxic Exposed Veterans Act passed the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee unanimously on March 19. The bill would establish the first comprehensive federal monitoring program to track birth defects among descendants of toxic-exposed veterans.

The legislation is named for Molly Loomis, who was born with spina bifida connected to her father's Agent Orange exposure during his Navy service in Vietnam. Her father, Richard Loomis, died in 2013 from bladder cancer presumed to be service-connected.

Sen Patty Murray of Washington co-introduced the bill. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado co-sponsored it, which has support from the Disabled American Veterans, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Vietnam Veterans of America and the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

Dr. Linda Schwartz, a leader of Vietnam Veterans of America who previously chaired the VA Advisory Committee on Women Veterans, said the legal distinction between mothers and fathers lacks scientific support.

"Our members came home from Vietnam carrying wounds that didn't always show up right away, and some of those wounds were passed on to their children," Schwartz said at the press conference. "The law recognized that for the children of women veterans. Scientific research does not justify this distinction. It is long past time it does the same for the children of the men who served alongside them."

Ron told Military.com that after the lawsuit was publicized on social media, he began hearing from families across the country dealing with similar denials.

"My phone is blowing up," Ron said. "People in Hawaii, Colorado, Cincinnati, everywhere out of the blue are asking what we can do to help."

Ron served in Vietnam from June 1970 to May 1971 and was honorably discharged in April 1972. As a tele-tech with a Combined Action Platoon, he flew to bases across Vietnam to install and maintain communications equipment.

Every landing zone had been cleared with Agent Orange, and bases were ringed by defoliated perimeters stretching hundreds of yards.

"Anytime I took a chopper to a landing zone, it was already there," Ron said. "You never actually saw it; it was just done, kind of like a crop duster."

After the Army, he worked for Southern New England Telecommunications and still drives for West Marine in Branford.

"They really don't know what Agent Orange does to people," Ron told the CT Mirror. "They have an idea of some of the stuff, but we're living it as real people. And we have things that happen to us that we can't explain. And I believe a lot of this has to do with Agent Orange."

The Veterans Legal Services Clinic told Military.com that a favorable ruling would declare the statute unconstitutional and open the door for children of male Vietnam veterans with qualifying birth defects to apply for the same benefits currently limited to roughly 200 children of women who served.

"I believe 350,000 children were denied because of this law," Ron said. "That is compared to the 200 that Congress estimated."

The VA declined to comment on ongoing legal matters.

Veteran Services

Deadline Approaching
A reminder that commemorative pavers for the Argus Promenade are still available. These personalized pavers offer a meaningful opportunity to honor service, celebrate family legacy, or leave a permanent mark at the National Coast Guard Museum.

Paver examples
If you would like your paver installed prior to the Ceremonial Commissioning of the National Coast Guard Museum, please complete your purchase by August 4, 2026. The next order deadline to ensure installation of your paver before the Museum Grand Opening is December 31, 2026.

Heroes on the Water
Founded in 2007, Heroes on the Water is a 501(c)3 non-profit that provides recreational wellness experiences for Veterans. Their primary modality is kayak fishing, which has proven cognitive and emotional benefits. These programs incorporate structured activities in a pressure-free environment, creating opportunities for community building and personal healing. Their participants receive much-needed camaraderie and support.

A dedicated group organizes their events at no cost to participants or their families. There is no prior experience or equipment required. Breakfast and lunch is provided at no cost. Recurring activities provide participants with consistent access to healing support and involvement in a community of people with shared experiences.

In 2018, they officially expanded their services to include first responders and their families."

For a Heroes On the Water (HOW) chapter near you, visit their website: https://heroesonthewater.org. If you don't find a chapter using their locator tool, search for the same on your browser to confirm there is not.

Respectfully,

HM2 "Doc" McCay
USNR, 1999 - 2007
1/23 Marines, FOB Hit, Iraq
2004 - 2005

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