Ten years ago, Army Private Mitch Hunter of Indianapolis almost lost his life saving a women’s life. Mr. Hunter removed a live wire from the women in a car accident. In the process, he lost his leg and was left with a severely scarred face. Brigham and Women’s Hospital has given approval for a face transplant. In the U.S. only three face transplants have been preformed.
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President’s Day is a memorial to the birth of George Washington. There have been countless tough decisions made by President’s through out our history. However few can live on as a part of the fabric of our country such as George Washington’s plan and execution of crossing the Delaware River on Christmas of 1776. In my opinion, it was much greater than a logistical victory in which over a thousand Hessians were captured. The victory laid the grounds of creativity that our country is built around.
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Our friend, Johnny B, passed away today after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was a true Airman, Mentor, Friend, Husband, Father and lover of bacon. He is survived by his amazing wife, Debby, their two wonderful children Zach and Lily, his mother, sisters and countless friends that he has made throughout the years. He served almost 21 years in the Air Force. Johnny B was a seasoned Combat Veteran with thousands of flight hours on multiple aircraft and his accomplishments are evident by the long list of awards and decorations:
Meritorious Service Medal with 1 Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster
Air Medal with 1 Silver and 4 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters
Aerial Achievement Medal with 4 Silver and 2 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters
Air Force Achievement Medal with 2 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters
Combat Readiness Medal with 1 Silver Oak Leaf Cluster
Air Force Good Conduct Medal with 1 Silver Oak Leaf Cluster
National Defense Service Medal with 1 Bronze Star
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal with 1 Silver Star
Southwest Asia Service Medal with 2 Bronze Stars
Kosovo Campaign Medal with 1 Bronze Star
Afghan Campaign Medal
Iraqi Campaign Medal
Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal
Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
Armed Forces Service Medal with 2 Bronze Stars
Air Force Overseas Ribbon Short with 1 Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster
Air Force Overseas Long Ribbon
Air Force Expeditionary Service Ribbon with Gold Border and 2 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters
Air Force Longevity Service Ribbon with 4 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters
Air Force NCO PME Graduate Ribbon with 2 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters
Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon
Air Force Training Ribbon
NATO Medal
Kuwaiti Liberation Medal, Saudi Arabia
Kuwaiti Liberation Medal, Kuwait
To quote a mutual friend of ours, Dave Porter, “I sometimes wonder if maybe the real worth of a person is in the number of times in their life they made other people smile. If so, Johnny, you are priceless.”
We all love you, Johnny B and we are all deeply saddened with your departure from this world. Fly high into that wild blue yonder and we will all meet up again one day.
Thank you Frank Sorrells for sharing the story of MSgt John M. Benner
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“Gen George Patton awarding the Legin of Merit to my father. John L. Battenfeld, Capt, Medical Corps 68th Armored Inf Battalion, 14th Armored Div
receiving Legion of Merit from Gen Patton March 1945″
Full out artillery hell in Khandahar, Afghanistan. Thank you Rupert Valero for many of these great photos.
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I received these photos from an old family friend when he passed away a few years ago. These are pictures of his brother, Lt. Dell Russon. I only know a few pieces of the story. Lt. Russon and his aircraft went missing in the Pacific in December 1941, only a couple of days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. I think he went missing near Wake Island, but I am not 100% sure of that. Lt. Russon’s aircraft was the one marked 2-D-27. He is also the one in the cockpit photo. On the back of the photos with the entire four-plane flight are the names Ruchala, Russon, Wright, and Turner. The story of these guys is being lost to history, I wish I had more pieces of it. Photos were made to be looked at, not sit in the bookshelf. So I thought maybe The Brigade audience might find them interesting.
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Bill “Willie” Apiata of New Zealand SAS was in Afghanistan when his team was attacked in the middle of the night by rocket grenades and machine gun fire. Mr. Apiata was not hit in the initial barrage but this was not the same for his teammate, who had blood all over his uniform. With out hesitation, he made the decision to carry his buddy 70 meters to safety. In the words of one eyewitness, “… a shitload of stuff coming towards them – rocket propelled grenades, machinegun fire, small arms fire. There were explosions everywhere, and they were caught in the middle – how they got through we will never know.” After getting to safety, he rejoined the fight which lasted another 20 minutes. For this action, Bill Apiata received the Victoria Cross. Most politicians would make this into a long drawn out story of personal bravery but the following is how a true soldier explains the situation. “I just saw my mate was injured and I needed to get him to safety and I put him up on my shoulder and carried him to safety and rejoined my mates and … yeah, that’s what happened.” – Corporal Bill Henry “Willie” Apiata.
Thank you to the user submit for suggesting this powerful story, if you know an untold story of bravery, theBRIGADE wants to share the story.
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The HBO show “Band of Brothers” is based on a war hero named Richard “Dick” Winters. The show is based on Company E (“Easy”) which Mr. Winters commanded. On January 2, the life story of Richard Winters came to a close at the age of 92. This is a collection of photos from the 506th in WWII and the 506th today.
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The two Polish soldiers lost their life to an IED attack. Two others soldiers were injured in the blast. Thank you Poland.
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“The Hel – Ops det. job is to minimize drivers on the dangerous roads by sending loads to FOBs via air and to support operations that are still ongoing to date. We utilized both military aircraft and civilian charters. We used CH – 47 one that had been used in the Vietnan war, Mi – 8′s KA-32′s thats the twin rotor Helo. It was Hot Dusty and well worth it.” Thank you Leading Seaman Caldwell JR for telling your team’s story
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“I was part of 2nd Battalion 8th Marines. We were one of the first waves into Iraq back in March 2003. Most of these pictures were taken in An Nasirya, Iraq. We were the crew that discovered the Jessica Lynch crew and started prepping/leveling the city for the rescue. We spent a lot of time there battling Iraqis faithful to the Baath Party.” -
Thank you Jory Guidry and all those in the 2nd Battalion 8th Marines.
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The Los Angeles-class, USS San Francisco (SSN-711) received the Battle Efficiency “E” for her independent operations in 1988. However, on Jan. 8 of 2005 collided with an undersea mountain off the coast of Guam. At the time of the incident, the sub was operating at max speed in a depth of 500 feet. The entire San Francisco was almost lost but the crew managed to recover and save the sub. 23 crewman were injured and Joseph Ashley of Ohio died from head injuries. Beyond the injured and lost lives, the other tragedy was that 6 crew members and the commanding officer were reprimanded for the incident. The seamount that the San Francisco struck did not appear on the chart in use at the time of the accident, but other charts available for use indicated an area of ‘discolored water’, an indication of the presence of a seamount. The Navy determined that information regarding the mount should have been transferred to the charts in use — particularly given the relatively uncharted nature of the ocean area that was being transited — and that the failure to do so represented a breach of proper procedures.
In June 2006 it was announced that San Francisco’s bow section was to be replaced with that of the soon to be retired USS Honolulu. On 10 October 2008, the San Francisco returned to the water after successfully undocking at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility. The dry-docking project involved cutting more than one million pounds off the forward ballast tanks and sonar sphere of the ex-Honolulu and attaching it to San Francisco. SSN-711 is now home-ported in San Diegeo, CA where it is expected to serve until 2017.
To the injured, lost and reprimanded crew men, thank you for silently serving.
This story was suggested from a user submit
If there is a story that you think should be told, submit here and I’ll try to put a future post together
The first set of photos are from the 2004 Civil War/Rebellion. Soldiers of the Royal 22nd Regiment and 438 Tactical Helicopter Squadron. The second set of photos are of Canada preparing for the Olympics. Thank you “boucher.jd” (sorry, I didn’t get your name in the e-mail) for these great user submits.
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The Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the United States Navy battle fleet that completed a circumnavigation of the globe from 16 December 1907 to 22 February 1909 by order of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. It consisted of 16 battleships divided into two squadrons, along with various escorts. Roosevelt sought to demonstrate growing American military power and blue-water navy capability.
The Home of Electronic Attack is keeping busy in the Pacific Northwest with their EA-6B Prowlers, EA-18G Growlers, P-3C Orions, and the MH-60S Knighthawk.
Thank you Whidbey and “CJS” (sorry, I didn’t get your name in the e-mail)
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“1st LAR Bn was know as ‘The tip of the spear’ and as motor T platoon, we were where the rubber met the road. Even though our 7 tons, HMMWV’s, and LVS’s had brakes, they could never stop our fun.”
-SGT Christopher Cendana
Thank you Christopher and the rest of your team.
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I was an MP back in 2007-2008 during my first deployment. I am now a Medic, however, sometimes I still wish I could go back to the good ol’ days.
My squad started off our 15 month deployment at Talil Air Base, then moved up to Baghdad after a few months. We saw a bit of action, and took a few casualties, but in the end, we all came home.
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