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Air Force Capt. Gerald Young, Medal of Honor recipient.
Episode 2721 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Air Force Lt. Col. Gerald Young and his Congressional Medal of Honor award. The featured story comes from The U.S. Department of Defense website and was titled: Medal of Honor Monday Army: Air Force Lt. Col. Gerald Young. It was submitted by Katie Lange, a writer for DOD News.
Lange, in her story, reported that Air Force Lt. Col. Gerald Young was not the first helicopter pilot to risk his life in combat, but he was the first of such men to receive the Medal of Honor. Young’s heroics during a mission-gone-wrong over the jungles of Vietnam helped save several stranded comrades who were directly in the path of enemy fighters
Lange added this about Young; he was born on May 19, 1930, in Chicago, just as the Great Depression was taking hold. He grew up during the World War II era, so by the time he was 17, he enlisted in the Navy to do his part to serve. Young was discharged in 1952 but, after a few years back in civilian life, he decided to reenlist in 1955. He served in the Navy for another year before being accepted into the Air Force aviation cadet training program, from which he earned his commission in 1958.
By 1967, the war in Vietnam was in full effect. Young deployed to the country as a rescue helicopter pilot with the 37th Air Rescue Service based at Da Nang Air Force Base. He was 37 and on his 60th combat mission as the pilot of an HH-3E Jolly Green Giant when he earned the Medal of Honor.
Listen to episode 2721 and discover more about Vietnam Vet Air Force Lt. Col. Gerald Young and his Congressional Medal of Honor award.
