This morning was not the Saturday to sleep in, despite the late night writing session last night. My husband David and I were due at the Airborne & Special Operations Museum in a few hours. First on the agenda was coffee, running out of coffee in our house is a crime. After completing a number of the normal household type chores we changed and headed off to the museum for their Medal of Honor Day. We were both assigned biographies and tables in separate areas of the museum. I was given two biographies from Somalia. I was stationed in the lobby near a permanent display about the Medal of Honor. While I was there I was able to read the stories of other recipients on the monitors behind me. A second monitor was interviews with those who earned the Medal of Honor and lived to tell their own story. Shortly after starting the interview with Colonel George Day, who earned the medal as a Major. Day was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam and managed to escape, he was recaptured and spent five more torturous years in the Hanoi Hilton, sharing a cell with Senator John McCain. After interview with Day ended I found that there was a small group standing next to me.
A retired soldier standing next to me started up a conversation about the museum and the various exhibits. His eyes filled with tears when I mentioned to him that our next temporary exhibit would cover the story of Mogadishu. I found out that he had been there and in fact personally knew the two men who earned the Medal of Honor for their acts of heroism during that siege. After a bit more conversation he told me part of his story from that horrific day.
I would like to challenge all of my followers to read at least one of the stories of a Medal of Honor recipient.