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Gen. Daniel Hokanson, left, chief of the National Guard Bureau, presents retired Army Capt. Larry Liss with a Silver Star citation during a ceremony March 5, 2024, at Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pa.
Episode 2770 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Army Capt. Larry Liss and why is Distinguished Flying Cross was upgraded to a Silver Star. The featured story comes from The U.S. Army website and was titled: National Guard chief presents Silver Star to Vietnam veteran. It was submitted by Brad Rhen of the Joint Force Headquarters, Pennsylvania National Guard.
Rhen in his story, reported that Nearly 57 years after rescuing more than 80 U.S. and South Vietnamese soldiers during the Vietnam War, retired Army Capt. Larry Liss received the Silver Star medal.
Liss originally received a Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions. But thanks to the persistence of his brother, Art Liss, and several members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation, that medal was upgraded to a Silver Star.
At a March 5 ceremony at Valley Forge Military Academy, Liss said he was accepting the award for every helicopter pilot who has ever flown a combat mission.
“I don’t think anybody realizes what it means to be a helicopter pilot in combat,” he said. “I’ve been on the ground. I know what it’s like on the ground, but at least on the ground, I could hide. You can’t hide in a helicopter, and these guys and women flying these helicopters, I just know nobody knows, they don’t realize, you’re exposed.”
Liss received the award for his actions on May 4, 1967. That afternoon, Liss and his copilot, Tom Baca, flew a chaplain to Cau Song Be outside Tay Ninh City. While there, they learned that North Vietnamese soldiers were poised to overrun a nearby U.S. special operations outpost with roughly 100 South Vietnamese soldiers and a small group of Green Berets.
Listen to episode 2770 and discover more about Army Capt. Larry Liss and why is Distinguished Flying Cross was upgraded to a Silver Star.
