Medal of Honor winner, former POW to give inspirational speech in GV

Fewer than 135 living Americans hold the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest prize for combat bravery, and one of them, retired Air Force aviator, Col. Leo K. Thorsness will be in Green Valley Monday, April 16, for a motivational talk on “Getting Through Tough Times.”

His talk, which starts at 6 p.m. at Desert Hills Lutheran Church, is one of several events being sponsored by the Friends of the Arizona Cancer Center Research Department to raise funds for cancer research.

About tough times Thorsness ought to know. He describes himself as a “war hero who hates war.”

He earned his medal in 1973, after risking his life to save others in Vietnam and spending six years in the Hanoi Hilton, a prisoner of war camp known for exceptionally brutal treatment of United States troops.

For two of those six years, Thorsness, who has been the subject of a PBS documentary “American Valor” and has appeared on NBC’s “Today Show,” Thorsness lived with John McCain, now a U.S. senator from Arizona.

Thorsness suffered severe injuries after his plane was shot down and because of his “uncooperative attitude” was denied medical attention. He spent a year in solitary confinement.

The years of beating and torture twice broke his back and repeatedly dislocated his shoulders.

Thorsness enlisted in the Air Force in 1951 and earned his commission three years later through the Aviation Cadet Program.

By 1966, the air war in Southeast Asia became fiercer when the Soviet Union supplied the North Vietnamese with surface-to-air missiles.

The Air Force countered the SAM buildup with the “Wild Weasels” aircrews which fire F-105s.

The Weasels’ job was to lead a strike force into a target area, entice enemy SAMs and antiaircraft radars to come on the air and knock them out with bombs or missiles.

Thorsness, who was then a major, was “Head Weasel” of the 357th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Takhi Air Base in Thailand.

On April 19, 1967, Thorsness and Capt. Harold Johnson flew a missile suppression mission over North Vietnam.

He and his wingman attacked and silenced a surface-to-air missile site with air-to-ground missiles and then destroyed a second site with bombs.

In the attack on the second missile site, Thorsness’ wingman was shot down by intense anti-aircraft fire and the two crew members bailed out,

Defended crew

Thorsness circled the descending parachutes to keep the crew members in sight and relay their position to the Search and Rescue Center. During this maneuver, Thorsness attacked and destroyed an MIG sighted in the area.

Because his aircraft was low on fuel, Thorsness was forced to leave the area in search of a tanker. After being advised that two helicopters were orbiting over the downed crew’s position and that there were hostile MIGs in the area, Thorsness decided to return to defend the downed crews.

As he approached the area, he spotted four MIG-17 aircraft and attacked, shooting one down and driving the others away from the rescue scene.

He recalled that at one point his own plane’s fuel was so low, that he was in danger of not being able to return to base. Just as Thorsness landed his fuel; ran out, and the engine shut down.

Plane shot down

Two weeks later, he was shot down and taken to a POW camp where he lived in a cellblock the prisoners dubbed “Heartbreak.”

While in prison, Thorsness, a Christian, said he had to find the strength to survive, He did so, he said, by praying, thinking of his loved ones and performing mental tricks to endure the pain.

Thorsness was presented with the Medal of Honor on Oct. 15, 1973, by President Richard Nixon.

Thorsness completed 23 years in the Air Force as retired in 1973. He later served as a Washington state senator He moved to Southern Arizona in 2000.

Tickets are $15, tax-deductible', and available from the Military Officers Association of Green Valley, Joel Greenberg, 393-8252, or Bill Good, 625-9102.

kengle@gvnews.com| 547-9732