Medal of Honor Event

On Saturday, January 15, five recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor gathered for a public speaking engagement and autograph session at the Strategic Air & Space Museum near Ashland, Nebraska. The five in attendance pictured left to right, Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, who was awarded the medal for his actions during a 2007 battle in Afghanistan, Captain Thomas Hudner, who crash landed his Corsair to try to save another pilot during the Korean War, Colonel Donald Ballard, a Vietnam War hero and U.S. Navy Corpsman, Chief Warrant Officer Hershel "Woody" Williams, who won the medal for his actions on Iwo Jima, and Sergeant Peter Lemon who was a 1st Air Cavalry recipient from the Vietnam War. They are shown here with Shane Sedlak, a local 12 year old who drew portraits of each of the Medal of Honor guests.
SSgt Giunta and Col. Ballard stand together before the speaking portion of the day. I was very inspired to be so close to these men, standing in the presence of these true heroes.
I was pretty impressed with SSgt. Giunta's dress uniform. The highly polished black leather jump boots looked amazing with the blue dress trousers bloused in them. The black jump boots definitely harkened back to the Airborne uniform of the early 1960's.
Here CWO "Woody" Williams poses with some fellow veterans who were there in support of the Medal of Honor guests and all other veterans. These guys are motorcycle enthusiasts who do a lot to support the local veteran community.

I took a stroll through the rest of the museum after the Medal of Honor event just to take it all in. I had to stop by my favorite airplane in the museum's collection, the B-17G Flying Fortress. Every time I stand before this amazing old "Queen of the Skies" my mind is filled with awe and wonder at how it must have felt to be a part of the Eighth Air Force's daylight bombing runs. You have to have a lot of respect for those brave souls who flew around in these bombers day in and day out.