From this past May. A real Hero passed.
By RICHARD GOLDSTEINMAY 3, 2017
Col. Leo K. Thorsness, one of the most highly decorated American airmen of the Vietnam War and a belated recipient of the Medal of Honor for his heroism on a mission that took place 11 days before he was shot down and taken prisoner, died on Tuesday in Jacksonville, Fla. Colonel Thorsness, who had been brutalized during his six years of captivity at the notorious North Vietnamese prison known as the Hanoi Hilton, where he was a cellmate of John McCain’s, was 85.
His wife, Gaylee, said the cause was leukemia. He died at a Mayo Clinic. Colonel and Mrs. Thorsness had been living in St. Augustine, Fla., for the past year and half.
The skies some 40 miles southwest of Hanoi were filled with North Vietnamese MIG fighters, surface to air missiles (known as SAMs) and antiaircraft fire on the afternoon of April 19, 1967, when Major Thorsness — he was promoted to colonel on his retirement — carried out his 88th mission for the Air Force piloting an F-105 Thunderchief.
He and his weapons specialist, Captain Harold Johnson, shot down one MIG, damaged another and struck at least two SAM batteries as they accompanied fighter-bombers attacking a North Vietnamese Army barracks.
Although running out of ammunition and low on fuel, Major Thorsness hovered in the area to ward off MIGs and shot one down as airmen sought to rescue his wingmen, two F-105 crewmen who had parachuted from their craft when it was struck by enemy fire. They were later captured.
Major Thorsness passed up a chance for aerial refueling, instead directing a tanker plane to replenish another fighter whose pilot had become lost in the skies amid the chaos.
He finally headed to the nearest airfield in Thailand, 70 miles to the south.
“I pulled the power back to idle and we just glided in,” he told Air Force Magazine in 2005. “We were indicating ‘empty’ when the runway came up just in front of us and we landed a little long. As we climbed out of the cockpit, Harry said something quaint like ‘that’s a full day’s work.’”
Eleven days later, on Major Thorsness’s 93rd mission, with only seven remaining to make him eligible to end his tour, a MIG hit his plane with an air-to-air missile. He bailed out with Captain Johnson, suffering severe knee injuries as he ejected, and both were captured.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/03/us/obituary-leo-thorsness-dead-vietnam-medal-of-honor.html?mcubz=0
