Wednesday Hero

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Cindy

Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Arthur Petry
31 years old from Santa Fe, New Mexico
2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment


Yesterday, July 12, Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Arthur Petry became the second living recipient of the Medal Of Honor from the War On Terror.

On May 26, 2008 Sgt 1st Class Petry lost his right hand when the enemy grenade he threw back, saving the lives of two of his fellow Soldiers, detonated. Despite the injury Sgt 1st Class Petry managed to tie a tourniquet around his arm and continued to fight.

You Can Read More About Sgt. 1st Class Petry Here

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero.
Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

I've only posted an entire album once before. Coincidentally enough, it was Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon. Animals is one of the most underrated albums of all time. It just doesn't get the recognition and credit it deserves. Hell, even the band aren't too fond of it. Which is sad because it's a great album.

Pigs On The Wing, Pt. 1
Dogs
Pigs (Three Different Ones)
Sheep
Pigs On The Wing, Pt. 2
Animals by Pink Floyd

Missing Vietnam Airman Identified

Air Force Maj. Richard G. Elzinga of Shedd, Ore., will be buried on July 8 in Arlington National Cemetery. On March 26, 1970, Elzinga and his co-pilot went missing when their O-1G Birddog aircraft failed to return to base from a familiarization flight over Laos. Fifteen minutes after the last radio contact, a communication and visual search showed no sign of the men or their aircraft. Search and rescue missions continued for two days with no results.

Between 1994 and 2009, joint U.S.-Lao People's Democratic Republic teams led by Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, analyzed leads, interviewed villagers and surveyed possible crash site locations. During several joint field surveys, teams recovered human remains, aircraft wreckage, and crew-related equipment.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA -- which matched that of his aunt and cousin -- in the identification of Elzinga's remains.

Hooah

Three names you're likely not to hear in a newscast tonight.

Staff Sgt. Joshua A. Throckmorton
Spc. Jordan C. Schumann
Spc. Preston J. Suter

Thank you for your service.

Wednesday Hero

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Michael

2nd Lt. William Edward Metzger, Jr.
22 years old from Lima, Ohio
729th Bombardment Squadron, 452nd Bomb Group (Heavy)
November 9, 1944


On May 16, 1945 2nd Lt. William E. Metzger was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions six months earlier. His citation reads:

"On a bombing run upon the marshaling yards at Saarbrücken, Germany, on 9 November 1944, a B17 aircraft on which 2d Lt. Metzger was serving as copilot was seriously damaged by antiaircraft fire. Three of the aircraft's engines were damaged beyond control and on fire; dangerous flames from the No. 4 engine were leaping back as far as the tail assembly. Flares in the cockpit were ignited and a fire roared therein which was further increased by free-flowing fluid from damaged hydraulic lines. The interphone system was rendered useless. In addition to these serious mechanical difficulties the engineer was wounded in the leg and the radio operator's arm was severed below the elbow. Suffering from intense pain, despite the application of a tourniquet, the radio operator fell unconscious. Faced with the imminent explosion of his aircraft and death to his entire crew, mere seconds before bombs away on the target, 2d Lt. Metzger and his pilot conferred. Something had to be done immediately to save the life of the wounded radio operator. The lack of a static line and the thought that his unconscious body striking the ground in unknown territory would not bring immediate medical attention forced a quick decision. 2d Lt. Metzger and his pilot decided to fly the flaming aircraft to friendly territory and then attempt to crash land. Bombs were released on the target and the crippled aircraft proceeded along to Allied-controlled territory. When that had been reached 2d Lt. Metzger personally informed all crewmembers to bail out upon the suggestion of the pilot. 2d Lt. Metzger chose to remain with the pilot for the crash landing in order to assist him in this emergency. With only 1 normally functioning engine and with the danger of explosion much greater, the aircraft banked into an open field, and when it was at an altitude of 100 feet it exploded, crashed, exploded again, and then disintegrated. All 3 crewmembers were instantly killed. 2d Lt. Metzger's loyalty to his crew, his determination to accomplish the task set forth to him, and his deed of knowingly performing what may have been his last service to his country was an example of valor at its highest."

2nd Lt. Metzger's pilot, 1st Lt. Donald J. Gott, was also awarded the Medal Of Honor for his actions that day. A video tribute to the three men lost.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero.
Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Happy 4th

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Today we celebrate 56 Men signing one of the most important documents in the history of mankind. In doing so they not only effectively signed their death warrants, it being treason, but they set in motion the idea that we the people are the masters of our own fate and that we have the right to live our lives free from tyranny and oppression.

Music Czar Sunday

I was going to use this in my 4th post tomorrow but it didn't fit in. Happy Birthday, America.


God Bless The U.S.A. by Lee Greenwood