This is just one incredible story of the Chronicling The Greatest Warriors & Leaders in Modern American Military History we want to tell.
I made the decision to crash land my air plane to pull Jesse out of the cockpit before the smoke turned into flames... he was pinned in... and couldn't move... with all the snow on the ground it made it just like ice and I couldn't get any traction ... his hands were literally frozen.
He was conscious and calm. I got to my radio to contact the helicopter to bring an ax and a fire extinguisher... about half hour passed I felt helpless... when the helicopter arrived he hand an ax and fire extinguisher... the ax bounced off the
fuselage and the fire extinguisher after a few squirts was empty... the helicopter pilot and I talked and we decided there was nothing we could do. The pilot had to leave and I was given the choice to go with him or staying with Jesse. Staying with Jesse would have been absolute suicide. The temperatures were maybe 10 degrees above zero and we were pretty sure Jesse was dead at that time...
I couldn't bear the thought of leaving him alive, he was a friend, I made that decision to try and save his life...thank you for letting me share his story, Adam P. Kennedy."
Captain Thomas Hudner, Korean War Medal of Honor Recipient. On 4 December 1950, while on a close air support mission near the Chosin Reservoir, Ensign Brown's plane was hit by enemy fire and crashed. Thomas J. Hudner, Jr., was awarded the Medal of Honor for his efforts.
Board of Advisors
Lieutenant General, Ron Christmas, USMC (Ret.) Navy Cross Recipient, Vietnam War, Former President and CEO Marine Corps Heritage Foundation
Colonel Phil Conran, USAF (Ret), Air Force Cross Recipient,
Vietnam War
Brigadier General Elliot S. Hermon, NYG (Ret), World War II Veteran
Brigadier General Edwin C. Kelley, Jr., USMC (Ret.), Navy Cross Recipient, Vietnam War
Joan E. Kelley, USMC
(1969-1976)
Sergeant Major "Iron Mike" Mervosh, USMC, (Ret), Bronze Star and Purple Heart Recipient, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War
Brigadier General James R. "Russ" McCarthy, USAF, (Ret) Air Force Cross Recipient, Vietnam War
Alan Moskin, World War II Veteran, Vice-President, Holocaust Museum and Study Center
Colonel Tom Reeves, USA (Ret),
Distinguished Service Cross Recipient, Vietnam War
John Regnier, World War II Veteran, author of Denying the Deniers: A Soldier's Intersection with the Holocaust
Mary Trowbridge
Lower School Director,
Manhattan Country School, NYC
Colonel Tex Wandke, USA (Ret), Distinguished Service Cross Recipient, Vietnam War
Honorary Advisors
Roger Adelman, former Assistant U.S. Attorney, Washington, D.C., 1969-1987
Howard Hyle, World War II Veteran, former Vice-President International, Coca Cola Company
Joseph C. Kennedy, Korean War
Veteran, Ph.D. Co-Founder, Africare
"We were out in what we called armed reconnaissance...We were in a flight of 6 aircraft...we were looking for targets..., his (Ensign Jesse Brown) plane got hit... he landed in an open area - there where mostly trees but he landed in this open area... he hit with such force that the plane was bent at the cockpit. There was about 20 inches of snow on the ground. He didn't get out of the plane after he crashed ... he opened
the canopy and waved at us to show that he had survived. Smoke started coming out of the nose of his airplane.
