Medal of Honor recipient to be buried at Arlington
The late Navy Capt. Thomas H. Hudner Jr., who earned the Medal of Honor for crash-landing his plane in an effort to save his downed wingman during the Korean War, will be buried will military honors at Arlington National Cemetery today.
On Dec. 4, 1950, Hudner was flying a combat mission near the Chosin Reservoir when his wingman, Jesse L. Brown of Hattiesburg, Miss. — the Navy’s first black aviator — was shot down. Hudner saw Brown was trapped inside his aircraft in a forward area in danger of being overrun by enemy troops. Hudner dropped his flaps and made a wheels-up landing.
“Brown’s right leg was crushed under the damaged instrument panel,” a Navy history states. “While Brown drifted in and out of consciousness, Hudner kept trying to free his fellow aviator, all the while packing snow into the still-smoking engine.”
A rescue helicopter landed, and Hudner and the helicopter’s aircrew made repeated unsuccessful attempts to free Brown.
“For almost 45 minutes, Hudner and the helicopter pilot used an ax to hack away at the damaged plane but they could not free Brown. Even a plan to amputate the leg with a knife wouldn’t work because they had no firm footing due to the snow.”
With night approaching, they were forced to leave Brown, who died shortly afterward.
Hudner’s attempt to save Brown came just two years after the Navy had desegregated. For the rest of his life, Hudner said he crash-landed to save Brown was because Brown, like all service members, would have done the same for him.
Hudner served 27 years in the Navy, then returned to Massachusetts, where he was commissioner of the Department of Veteran Services from 1991 to 1999. He died in November.
During Hudner’s funeral ceremony today, Strike Fighter Squadron 32, based at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, Va., will perform a missing man formation flyover. VF32 is the squadron Hudner flew with at the time he earned the Medal of Honor. The Navy is currently building a destroyer named for him as well. The USS Hudner is under construction in Maine.