Military Obituaries

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Retired US Astronaut John Young Dies at 87...

Retired US Astronaut Young Dies at 87
January 06, 2018 - Veteran U.S. astronaut John Young, who walked on the moon and even smuggled a corned beef sandwich into orbit during one of his six missions in space, has died at age 87, NASA said Saturday.

Young, a former Navy test pilot, in 1972 became the ninth of 12 people ever to set foot on the moon. "We're saddened by the loss of astronaut John Young," the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said on Twitter. The time and cause of Young's death were not immediately clear. Young became one of the most accomplished astronauts in the history of the U.S. space program. He flew into space twice during NASA's Gemini program in the mid-1960s, twice on the Apollo lunar missions and twice on space shuttles in the 1980s. He retired in 2004 after 42 years with the U.S. space agency.

Moon mission

The Apollo 16 mission in April 1972, his fourth space flight, took Young to the lunar surface. As mission commander, he and crewmate Charles Duke explored the moon's Descartes Highlands region, gathering 90 kilograms (200 pounds) of rock and soil samples and driving more than 26 kilometers (16 miles) in the lunar rover to sites such as Spook Crater. Recalling his lunar exploits, Young told the Houston Chronicle in 2004: "One-sixth gravity on the surface of the moon is just delightful. It's not like being in zero gravity, you know. You can drop a pencil in zero gravity and look for it for three days. In one-sixth gravity, you just look down and there it is."

John Young salutes the U.S. flag at the Descartes landing site on the moon during the first Apollo 16 extravehicular activity.

Young's first time in space came in 1965 with the Gemini 3 mission that took him and astronaut Gus Grissom into Earth orbit in the first two-man U.S. space jaunt. It was on this mission that Young pulled his sandwich stunt, which did not make NASA brass happy but certainly pleased Grissom, the recipient of the snack. Astronaut Wally Schirra, who was not flying on the mission, bought the corned beef sandwich on rye bread from a delicatessen in Cocoa Beach, Florida, and asked Young to give it to Grissom in space. During the flight, as they discussed the food provided for the mission, Young handed Grissom the sandwich. NASA later rebuked Young for the antics, which generated criticism from lawmakers and the media, but his career did not suffer.

Rehearsal for moon landing

His May 1969 Apollo 10 mission served as a rehearsal for the historic Apollo 11 mission two months later in which Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. Young and his crew undertook each aspect of that subsequent mission except for an actual moon landing. Young's fifth space mission was as commander of the inaugural flight of NASA's first space shuttle, Columbia, in 1981. In 1983, he became the first person to fly six space missions when he commanded Columbia on the first Spacelab trek, with the crew performing more than 70 scientific experiments.

STS-1 crew John Young, left, and Robert Crippen, hold a model of the space shuttle. NASA says Young, who walked on the moon and later commanded the first space shuttle flight, died Jan. 5, 2018. He was 87.

He never went to space again. Young had been due to command a 1986 flight that was canceled after the explosion of the shuttle Challenger earlier that year. He ended up as the only person to fly on space shuttle, Apollo and Gemini missions. Young was born September 24, 1930, in San Francisco and grew up in Orlando, Florida. After receiving a degree in aeronautical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1952, he entered the Navy and graduated from its test pilot school. NASA picked him in 1962 for its astronaut program.

https://www.voanews.com/a/retired-as...s/4195338.html

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Creator of 'Beetle Bailey,' comic strip dies at 94...

Mort Walker, creator of 'Beetle Bailey,' dies at 94
Jan. 27, 2018 -- Creator of the legendary comic strip "Beetle Bailey," Mort Walker, died of pneumonia Saturday at his home in Stamford, Conn. He was 94.

Walker was a lifelong cartoonist who drew his first comic strip, "Lime Juices," at age 12. By age 15 he began publishing a strip called "Sunshine and Shadow" and at age 18 he became the chief editorial designer of Hallmark Cards. Along his career path he published other comic strips including "Hi and Lois," a "Beetle" spin-off he launched in 1954.

Creator of the legendary comic strip “Beetle Bailey,” Mort Walker, died Saturday at his home in Stamford, Conn.

According to his family, Walker died in his studio surrounded by cartoon troops in various forms including toys, comic books and strips. "Beetle Bailey," known as the longest-running comic strip drawn by its original creator, showcased calamities of a lazy Army soldier at the fictional Camp Swampy. Inspiration for the comic came to Walker as he served a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War II.

From its debut in 1950 to the day he died, Walker drew each day's "Beetle Bailey." His assistant for more than 30 years, Bill Janocha, said Walker worked ahead so "months of his work exists and will be appearing throughout 2018." Janocha said thousands of hand-drawn sketches have been saved, "so Mort's writings and layouts can potentially continue to help steer 'Beetle Bailey' for years to come."

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2018...p&utm_medium=5

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Dead Poets Society founder dies after ordering tombstone
Sun, Jan 28, 2018 -The founder of the Dead Poets Society of America had a fatal heart attack a little more than a month after commissioning his own tombstone.

Walter Skold enlisted the son of novelist John Updike to carve a unique tombstone that would be topped with a dancing skeleton and a quill. Michael Updike, who received the poet’s deposit last month, said he never expected to be carving the monument so soon. There was no indication of any premonition of an untimely death before Skold’s passing at age 57 on Saturday last week in Elkins Park, Michael Updike said on Friday. “He was a sweet soul,” Michael Updike said. “He was a kind person with this quirky predilection to poets’ graves and death and the macabre.”


Known as the “Dead Poets Guy,” Skold visited the final resting places of more than 600 poets after launching the Dead Poets Society in 2008 in Maine, drawing inspiration for the name from the 1989 Robin Williams movie. Along the way, Skold drew attention to bards and poetry while producing a massive repository of information on poets’ final resting places. He also had a sense of humor. He traveled in a cargo van he dubbed the “Dedgar the Poemobile,” sometimes embellishing the dashboard with an Edgar Allan Poe bobblehead.


However, he was serious about honoring poets, and he launched a movement to create Dead Poets Remembrance Day on the Sunday closest to Oct. 7, the date Poe died. “It takes a little chutzpah to say we’re starting a holiday, but we believe it’s a really good idea, and we hope it catches on,” he said in 2010. Skold was living in Freeport, Maine, when he left his job as a public-school technology teacher to pursue his passions of poetry and photography and to launch the society. A celebration of Skold’s life was to be held yesterday in York, Pennsylvania, where his family burial plot is located. There is also to be a smaller remembrance in Maine at a later date.


http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worl.../28/2003686593

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Second-Oldest Pearl Harbor Survivor Dies at 104...

Second-Oldest Pearl Harbor Survivor, Jim Downing, Dies at 104
15 Feb 2018 - At 104, Pearl Harbor survivor Navy Lt. Jim Downing was a confidant of presidents and a star of national television.

From talk shows to a profile in Time magazine, Downing was feted as the second-oldest man who endured the events of Dec. 7, 1941. But Downing, who died from complications after surgery Tuesday, loved talking with school kids the most. Even in the last months of his life, Downing would roll into classrooms and gymnasiums aboard his electric scooter. He did as much listening as talking. "He really wanted to hear from these kids what they were interested in," said friend Brett Clark. What Downing delivered to the students was an experience branded on his mind. He was ashore when Japanese planes struck the unprepared American Pacific Fleet in an attack that plunged the nation into World War II. "The first thing I experienced was surprise," Downing told the students during a 2016 visit to a local high school. "The next thing I experienced was fear."

Downing dodged strafing planes to make his way to his stricken ship, the USS West Virginia. The battlewagon had suffered hits by seven torpedoes and a pair of bombs. Her decks were ablaze, and she was sinking. Armed with a fire hose, Downing sprayed saltwater on ammunition stored on the deck to prevent further explosions. He also undertook a more personal mission. Downing was the West Virginia's mail clerk, and he knew most of the 1,400 sailors aboard. As he spotted the bodies of some of the 105 men killed on the West Virginia, he committed their names to memory. Some were recognizable. For others, he had to check identification tags. "I went around memorizing as many as I could with the intention of writing their parents," he said. After the attack, Downing wrote to as many families as he could, relaying his belief that the sailors killed in the attack were heroes. "It's the type of story you're only going to hear a couple of times in your life," said friend Josh Steinfeld, who accompanied Downing on trips around the country in recent years.

Pearl Harbor survivor and retired Navy Lt. Jim Downing attends a screening of the "Remember Pearl Harbor" documentary at the Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 4, 2016.

Downing had another story he told often. It was about finding faith. He joined the Navy at 19 in 1932. Three years later, he found faith by hearing the testimony of the man who would change his life, Navigators founder Dawson Trotman. Clark said Downing, known as Navigator No. 6 by the worldwide nonprofit headquartered in Colorado Springs, came to his faith by seeing the examples of others rather than fear of damnation. "He tells the story of hiding some cash in the Bible aboard ship," Clark recalled. "He figured no one would pick up a Bible aboard ship." Downing sailed through World War II aboard West Virginia and was commissioned as an officer after the war, commanding the supply ship USS Patapsco through the Korean War before retiring from the Navy in 1956.

Downing went from fighting for his country to fighting for souls, moving to Colorado Springs and joining the Navigators. He held several positions for the ministry, from head of its bookkeeping to leading its evangelism in Europe and the Middle East. He announced his retirement in 1983, but Downing never quit working. From public speaking to sharing Scripture, the sailor kept underway. He wrote his a book in 2007. Another, the autobiography "The Other Side of Infamy," was published two years ago, giving Downing the Guinness record as the oldest male author of a new work. He met Presidents George H.W. Bush, George Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump along the way. But it was those kids who kept him going, friends say.

Downing had a knack for mesmerizing children one-10th of his age. Steinfeld remembered taking Downing to a school in St. Louis on a Friday afternoon. He was told the kids would be restless and bored. It had the makings of a disaster. "He said, 'I got this' and pulled out that plastic arm," Steinfeld said. The arm was almost as well known as the sailor. Downing bought it on the Internet to draw kids in. He would ask a student for help rising from his scooter. The student would pull, coming away with a rubber hand. "Nothing lit him up more than going to a room full of kids," Steinfeld said. "That's why he was doing what he was doing." Downing is survived by six children and nine grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his wife, Morena, in 2010 after 69 years of marriage. Arrangements are pending.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/...-dies-104.html

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Thunderbirds Pilot Killed in Nevada Crash...

Thunderbirds Member Killed in Nevada Crash Was Former F-35 Test Pilot
5 Apr 2018 - The U.S. Air Force has identified the Thunderbirds pilot killed Wednesday after his F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed near Nellis Air Force Base.

Maj. Stephen Del Bagno was participating in a routine training flight at the Nevada Test and Training Range when the crash occurred at approximately 10:30 a.m. local time, the Thunderbirds said in a release. The accident is under investigation. "We are mourning the loss of Major Del Bagno," said Brig. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt, 57th Wing commander, in the release. "He was an integral part of our team and our hearts are heavy with his loss. We ask everyone to provide his family and friends the space to heal during this difficult time." Del Bagno was the slot pilot flying the No. 4 jet for the Thunderbirds, according to the team's website.

Before joining the team, Del Bagno was an F-35A Joint Strike Fighter evaluator pilot and chief of standardization and evaluation with the 58th Fighter Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The Valencia, California, native had more than 3,500 flying hours in over 30 different aircraft, with 1,400 hours as an Air Force pilot, his official biography said. Del Bagno commissioned out of Officer Training School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, in 2007. He was in his first season with the demonstration team.

Maj. Stephen Del Bagno was killed in a crash near Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, on April 4, 2018.

The team was slated to perform this weekend at March Air Reserve Base, California, the website said. "The team's participation at 'The March Field Air & Space Expo' has been canceled," Nellis said in a release Wednesday. "It is unknown how this accident will impact the remainder of the 2018 Thunderbirds season." The Thunderbirds, the Air Force's premier traveling demonstration team, are assigned to the 57th Wing at Nellis. The team flies the Block 52 variant F-16C and D models. The single-engine, multirole F-16, known as the "Viper" throughout the fighter community, has been the mainstay of the Thunderbirds for decades. Last summer, the team took its first overseas trip since 2011.

Wednesday's crash marks the third mishap for the Thunderbirds in the last three years. There have been nine "class A" mishaps involving the F-16 since the start of fiscal year 2016. In seven of the mishaps, aircraft were completely destroyed, according to aviation statistics from the Air Force Safety Center. Class A mishaps include fatal accidents, severe damage totaling millions of dollars, or a complete loss of the aircraft. Nellis has F-16C and F-16D models, Blocks 25, 32, 40, 42 and 52, spokeswoman Maj. Christina Sukach told Military.com on Wednesday.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/...est-pilot.html

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Vietnam War My Lai massacre figure passes on...

Ernest Medina, Key Figure in My Lai Massacre, Dies at 81
14 May 2018 — Former Army Capt. Ernest L. Medina, a key figure in the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam war, has died in Wisconsin.

Former Army Capt. Ernest L. Medina, a key figure in the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam war, has died in Wisconsin. He was 81. Medina was an Army captain on March 16, 1968, when American troops under his command killed hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians. He was acquitted in a court-martial over the massacre. Medina died May 8, according to an obituary written by his family. No cause of death was given. He was being buried Monday. Medina was captain of Charlie Company whose mission was to attack a crack Vietcong unit. The intelligence soldiers received was inaccurate and they encountered no resistance in the village of My Lai and a neighboring community. Charlie Company killed 504 villagers in just three to four hours, most of them women, children and elderly men.


It wasn't until more than a year later that news of the massacre became public. Medina was accused of responsibility in the deaths of at least 182 civilians. Medina, whose platoon took up a position in reserve outside the village, said during his trial that he was not with the soldiers when the massacre happened and that he didn't know about it until it was over. Medina acknowledged killing one woman, but said he believed she was about to attack him.

U.S. Army Capt. Ernest Medina, a key figure in the 1968 My Lai massacre during the Vietnam war, speaks at a news conference at the Pentagon. Medina died on May 8, 2018, according to an obituary written by his family. He was 81.

Lt. William L. Calley Jr., who led the first platoon into My Lai, was the only one convicted of the 25 men originally charged in the massacre. In a 1988 interview with The Associated Press, Medina looked back on My Lai as a "horrendous thing" that never should have happened. "I have regrets for it, but I have no guilt over it because I didn't cause it," he said. "That's not what the military, particularly the United States Army, is trained for. But then again, maybe the war should have never happened. I think if everybody were to look at it in hindsight, I'm sure a lot of the politicians and generals would think of it otherwise. Maybe it was a war that we should have probably never gotten involved in as deeply as we did without the will to win it."


Medina earned a Silver Star for bravery for actions he took saving the lives of fellow soldiers during a battle shortly before My Lai. Although Medina was acquitted of murder and manslaughter for the My Lai killings, his 16½-year Army career was ruined and he resigned his commission. He moved with his wife and three children to Marinette, Wisconsin, in 1971. He worked as a salesman for a helicopter manufacturer for a while, and later went into real estate. Medina was born in Springer, New Mexico, to Simon and Pauline Medina. Medina's mother died shortly after his birth and his grandparents raised him in Montrose, Colorado, according to his family's obituary. Medina lied about his age to join the Colorado National Guard at 16, his family said. In 1956, he enlisted in the Army after briefly considering joining the seminary.


Then, while stationed in Heilbronn, Germany, he met the woman he would eventually marry, Baerbel Dechandt. "He quickly fell in love and declined an offer to take an exam to go to West Point Military Academy so that he could marry his soul mate," his obituary reads. Ernie, as his family called him in the obituary, "craved time with family, friends, and working in the community." "He also enjoyed having an occasional cigar, a good home-brew, trying to fill his endless garage with assorted 'collectibles,' and dreaming of restoring an antique Ford Model T and a 1960s VW Bug," his obituary reads. According to the obituary, Medina is survived by his wife, daughter Ingrid Medina, sons Greg and Cecil Medina, eight grandchildren and his cousin, Ercelica Salomoni.


https://www.military.com/daily-news/...e-dies-81.html