A white Korean War Medal of Honor recipient tried to retrieve the remains of his black wingman from North Korea
On this Veterans Day there are many war stories that can be told, but here is one that is most noteworthy. It involves two Navy pilots during the Korean War, one a white Medal of Honor recipient and the other the Navy’s first black pilot.
Here is the Daily Mail report by the Associated Press of this remarkable story:
REMARKABLE FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN THE NAVY’S FIRST BLACK PILOT AND THE PRIVILEGED MEDAL OF HONOR WINNER WHO CRASH LANDED TO SAVE HIM IN NORTH KOREA
Tom Hudner downed his own plane to save Jesse Brown in 1950, but when he couldn't pry him from the wreckage, he promised he would return
Associated Press
November 8, 2015
A Korean War pilot who crash landed his own plane to save the life of his dying comrade has revealed the unlikely friendship in a stunning new book.
Devotion tells the story of Navy airman and Medal of Honor winner Tom Hudner and Jesse Brown, who fought alongside each other in the dark days of the 1950s - when the U.S was locked in battle with Korea and communist China.
Brown, the first black pilot in the Navy, went down near the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea during a mission.
To rescue him, Hutner risked his own life and crash landed nearby, but Brown was stuck in the tangled wreckage.
A rescue helicopter eventually arrived to help the pair out, but Hutner was forced to make the agonizing decision to leave him there.
Before he left, he gave Brown a promise that he would return and get him.
Sixty years on, he kept that promise.
The now-91-year-old made it back to North Korea in 2013, in a bid to retrieve his remains.
But couldn't get to the crash site because of poor weather.
Both men were in their early 20s but lived a world apart.
The men were from vastly different backgrounds. Hudner grew up white and privileged in Massachusetts.
He shunned his family tradition of going to Havard University and instead signed up for the Naval academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
Hudner told the Albany Times-Union: 'The friendship with Jesse took me out of that bubble and taught me that not everyone grew up like me.
Author Adam Makos says it's a story that had to be told.
He added: 'It's an inspirational story. Jesse Brown didn't get a fair shake from history.'
Hutner reveals not a day goes by where he doesn't think of Jesse. However, to him, Veterans Day stands out.
'It's a time of reflection for me more than anything,' he said. 'Especially about those who never came back.'
In an interview with CNN in 2013, Hudner said: 'The Marine pilot pulled me aside and said dusk was approaching and he couldn't fly the helicopter in the dark and the mountainous terrain, so he had to leave.'
The pair were well behind enemy lines and even if Hudner had managed to escape the clutches of the Chinese, it is unlikely he would have been able to survive the harsh winter.
'I told Jesse that we had to get some more equipment because we couldn't get him out with what we had. I don't know if he even heard me, I'm afraid by this time he had passed.'
The Korean War broke out in June 1950 when communist North Korea attacked its southern neighbour.
United Nations forces, made up primarily of US troops, fought on the side of South Korea. China fought with North Korea.
Choisin Reservoir was the scene of a harrowing battle waged during the brutal Korean winter, with frostbite a common injury. Arms and medical supplies also froze in subzero temperatures.
Of the 15,000 US troops involved, more than 3,000 died during the 17-day struggle.
But the Chinese forces paid a much greater price trying to force the allied troops from their positions -- some 60,000 replacements were required to replace men lost to firepower and cold.
An estimated 35,000 Chinese troops lost their lives during the conflict. Some 8,000 US soldiers are still missing in action.
Now, in a rare show of cooperation with a country it often calls the imperialistic enemy, North Korea has given permission for Hudner to return to Chosin Reservoir.
Hudner told CNN he did not think the trip would ever happen.
'We're very grateful to him (leader Kim Jong Un) and to the North Korean government that after all these years we've been given permission to look for Jesse's airplane,' he said.
He puts the chances of finding Brown's remains or his aircraft at 50-50, but said it was important.
And he believed severely strained US-North Korean relations could even get a boost.
(Reproduced in accordance with the copyright law of the U.S. Code, Title 17, Section 107)
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