AmericanSummer 2008 Valor A publication of The American Veterans Center - World War II Veterans Committee - National Vietnam Veterans Committee Quarterly Reflections By general Jimmy Doolittle Plus The Black Sheep Squadron General Andrew J. Goodpaster & Principled Leadership Shock Medicine: A Navy Corpsman in Iraq And A recap of the 2008 National Memorial Day Parade American Valor Quarterly A Quarterly Publication of the American Veterans Center www.americanveteranscenter.org World War II Veterans Committee National Vietnam Veterans Committee www.wwiivets.com www.vietnamvetscommittee.org Summer 2008 Feature -In This Issue- 4 The 2008 National Memorial Day Parade Master of the A recap of the Fourth Annual National Memorial Calculated Risk Day Parade, our nation’s largest Memorial Day celebration presented by the American Veterans Center. On April 18, 1942, Jimmy Doolittle led sixteen B-25 planes on a daring raid on Articles the Japanese homeland. Jimmy Doolittle with his crew, just prior to their famous raid. Lt. Col. Reflections by General James H. Doolittle Richard E. Cole, standing next to In this issue, we share some thoughts 8 Prior to his passing in 1993, Jimmy Doolittle Doolittle, will join the from the General written prior to his American Veterans Center’s shared his thoughts on the military, pilots, and passing which demonstrate the quali- life. In this issue, we print these reflections, as 11th Annual Conference this November to recount his memories ties that made him a hero to genera- well as the original proposed plan to attack Japan of General Doolittle and the raid. in 1942. tions of Americans. Baa Baa Black Sheep Principled Leadership by Dr. Lewis S. Sorley 13 An excerpt from Veterans Chronicles 17 In 2007, the American Veterans Center inaugurated Brigadier General Bruce Matheson of the famed the Andrew J. Goodpaster Prize and Lecture in honor Black Sheep Squadron tells the story of of one of America’s finest military men. The first “Boyington’s Bastards.” lecture was delivered by Vietnam veteran and Pulitzer Prize-nominated historian Lewis Sorley, who examined the career, and character, of several distinguished veterans. Shock Medicine by Luis Fonseca Jr. 23 The eyewitness account of the 2003 Battle of Nasiriyah from the first corpsman to receive the Navy Cross in over three decades. Department of Defense Photo Now playing at www.americanveteranscenter.org AVC Video! Not able to make the Annual Conference? Miss the National Memorial Day Parade? Don’t worry! The American Veterans Center is proud to share video clips from all of our events on our website at Bob Feller talks about his World War www.americanveteranscenter.org. Hollywood legend and World War II II experience at the 2006 conference veteran Mickey Rooney speaks on the as televised by C-SPAN. Feller, and importance of Memorial Day during other Major League Baseball players Log on today to watch America’s greatest the television broadcast of the 2008 who served in WWII will join the National Memorial Day Parade. 2008 conference. heroes share their stories! FROM THE EDITOR Valor’s Champion By Tim Holbert In his must-read new book The Strongest Tribe chronicling the war The mission of the American Veterans Center is to be “valor's in Iraq, Marine Corps veteran and author Bing West laments the champion.” Everything we do is designed to not only honor our fact that the American media has often been quick to denounce veterans from every generation, but to spotlight their stories of our military while generally ignoring our heroes. He writes, “When heroism and to provide a forum for them to share their lessons a single deed of negligence receives vastly more attention than a with the public and future generations. Their selfless service is a hundred deeds of valor, the country is diminished.” More di- model from which all of us can learn. That is why AMERICAN rectly, he writes, “When valor has no champion, America loses.” VALOR QUARTERLY is devoted to first-hand accounts from those who have borne witness to the great moments in American Most Americans look back with shame on the way our veterans military history. It is also why the Center has produced a long were treated after Vietnam. A brave and noble generation of history of documentary work, including the weekly radio series American servicemen came home to scorn, contempt, and ridicule. Veterans Chronicles, featuring interviews with America's most Never again, most agree, should our uniformed men and women distinguished veterans and service members, as well as full-length be treated in such a fashion, regardless of our opinions of the programs like D-Day: They Were There and Pearl Harbor: 60 Years foreign policy of the U.S. government. of Echoes. The Center also produces and sponsors the annual National Memorial Day Parade, which drew over 250,000 Yet while most Americans will say they support the troops, and spectators and was televised around the world in an effort to call most genuinely do appreciate their service, there is something attention to the true meaning of the holiday. missing. Acknowledgment of heroism among our men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan is often looked at by This Veterans Day weekend, we will work to provide another media as tacit support of the war or the administration. forum for these heroes, as we hold the American Veterans Center’s 11th Annual Conference in Washington, DC. The conference, This should certainly not be the case. Heroism among those in which has been televised on C-SPAN, brings together uniform should be as lauded today as it was when they stormed distinguished and decorated veterans from World War II through the beaches of Normandy or scaled Mt. Suribachi. They have Iraq and Afghanistan. There, they share their experiences with nothing to do with government policy; as Tennyson wrote, their fellow veterans, students and young active duty personnel, “Their's not to reason why, Their's but to do and die.” Yet, they and citizens who believe in the importance of spreading an are not victims, and should not be portrayed as such – they are appreciation of our military and its history. soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines as great and noble as any in American history. Honor is their right, as it is what they have Our mission is not one that we take lightly. We remain grateful earned. for your support, and hope that you too will continue to champion American valor wherever you find it. AVQ AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY, Summer 2008 A quarterly publication of the American Veterans Center, 1100 N. Glebe Rd. Suite 910, Arlington, VA 22201. Telephone: 703-302-1012. Fax: 571-480-4140. James C. Roberts - President The American Veterans Center is comprised of two divisions, the World War II Tim Holbert - Editor/Program Director Veterans Committee and the National Vietnam Veterans Committee. Jim Michels - Director of Development Jordan Cross - Director of Communication American Valor Quarterly is mailed to donors to the World War II Veterans Com- mittee or National Vietnam Veterans Committee who make a contribution of $50 Andrew Lee - Graphic Illustrator or more per-year. Contributions help fund the Center and Committees’ various Chris Graham - Researcher speaker conferences, student programs, the National Memorial Day Parade, docu- Michael Paradiso - Publisher mentary and oral history projects, and this publication. To make a contribution or subscribe, call 703-302-1012 ext. 214 or e-mail [email protected]. AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Summer 2008 - 3 The 2008 National Memorial Day Parade Presented by the American Veterans Center On May 26, 2008, more than 250,000 spectators lined Con- stitution Avenue in Washington, DC for the Fourth Annual National Memorial Day Parade, presented by the American Veterans Center. In a spectacular tribute to those who have served and are serving, and most importantly those who have given their lives for our country, the parade featured thousands of participants that included marching bands, veterans, military vehicles, and active duty service personnel. It was televised worldwide on the Pentagon Channel where it could be seen by service mem- bers stationed both at home and abroad. Memorial Day is one of our nation’s most important and sol- emn holidays. It is not merely a day off work or school, or the “unofficial start of summer” as many call it. Instead, it is a day for Americans of all ages and backgrounds to come together and honor those who have sacrificed in service to our country. The National Memorial Day Parade was founded by the Ameri- can Veterans Center in 2005 to serve as such an outlet. Prior to that year, Washington, DC - the nation’s capital and head- quarters of our military - was without a parade on Memorial Day for nearly 70 years. Additionally, while parades on Memo- rial Day have been a tradition in small towns and cities around the country for well over a century, sadly, they are slowly fad- ing away as the true spirit of the holiday becomes lost. The National Memorial Day Parade is our effort to call atten- tion to the meaning of the day, while providing an opportunity for families to gather and honor those who have made the ulti- mate sacrifice. A major theme of this year’s National Memorial Day Parade was honoring the “citizen-soldiers” of the U.S. Army Reserve on the 100th Anniversary of the Reserve. Marching past the hundreds of thousands of spectators were platoons of Reservists (above), the U.S. Army Reserve Band (left), and the parade’s Honorary Grand Marshal, Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz, Chief, Army Reserve and Commanding General, U.S. Army Reserve Command. As the 2007 parade focused on the 60th Anniversary of the Air Force, the 2008 parade was largely devoted to the United States Army and Army Reserve.