Upcoming Events April 12, 2013 A Day to Honor CPT Thomas J. Hudner Jr. ’43, Bath, Maine (see cover story) Veterans Day 2013 CPT Seth Moulton ’97, USMC, and Mohammed Harba To become a member of Andover and the Military: www.andover.edu/forms/AndoverMilitary/contactinfo.aspx Please encourage other Andover veterans to register. To update your information: e-mail Jenny Savino at jsavino@andover.edu Visit our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PAServes
Campus News: Adopt-A-Platoon
Since 2005, Andover students—through the Community Service Office—have been involved in the Adopt-A-Platoon program, a national nonprofit that connects citizens with platoons deployed overseas. They have been writing letters and sending care packages to the 40-50 members of a platoon currently serving in Afghanistan. In late February, 20 students participated in a Skype conference with Army 1LT Tom Barron ’04. In a lively exchange, Barron, a rifle platoon leader in the 4th Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan in 2012, talked about his experiences at Andover and during his 6-month tour in Afghanistan. He is now a company executive officer in the same unit at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.
Remembering Erik Kristensen ’91 1972–2005
LCDR Erik S. Kristensen, USN, was a Navy SEAL killed in action during Operation Red Wings in June 2005. Kristensen was one of 16 SEALs deployed in a Chinook to help rescue another SEAL team trapped in an intense gun battle with Taliban fighters while on a mission to kill or capture a high-ranking Taliban leader in eastern Afghanistan. The Chinook was downed by an enemy RPG, killing all on board, in what the Navy called its worst single day loss of life for Naval Special Warfare personnel since World War II. Kristensen, son of a Navy Rear Admiral, spent a postgraduate year at Andover before entering the U.S. Naval Academy.
Tell Us Your Story! Andover’s Military History Project is an ongoing effort to document the long history of service to the country by Andover students, faculty, alumni, and the school itself. If you are an alumnus or alumna who would like to contribute to this project by researching and writing, please contact Jenny Savino at jsavino@andover.edu. We would love to hear your story!
The Newsletter of Andover and the Military
Winter 2013
Join Us on April 12
Celebrating the USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) and its Namesake by George S.K. Rider ’51
Barron discussed his motivations for joining the military and challenges of past assignments. Students asked hard questions about the role of an Army officer, the role education plays in the life of a combat arms officer, and how Andover students can better serve deployed soldiers and the military community. Barron emphasized the importance of civic engagement—the need to understand and participate in the political process and foreign policies, and the importance of supporting veterans’ transitions back into their communities. Barron emphasized that military service always will need “strong, principled, thoughtful, and compassionate leaders, particularly in a profession that bears the risk of so much moral hazard.”
POSTAGE
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The Blue Guidon
On May 7, 2012, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the next Arleigh Burke–class destroyer would be named USS Thomas Hudner for Medal of Honor recipient CPT Thomas J. Hudner Jr. ’43. The medal was awarded by President Harry S. Truman in April 1951 for then LTJG Hudner’s valiant actions trying to save the life of his wingman, ENS Jesse L. Brown, during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War.
of enemy troops. With his bare hands he packed the fuselage with snow to keep the flames away and struggled to pull the pilot free. Unsuccessful, he returned to his plane and requested a helicopter with axe and fire extinguisher. He then remained on the spot in the sub-freezing cold and danger from the enemy, and with the assistance of the rescue pilot, renewed a desperate, but unavailing battle against time, cold and flames. LTJG Thomas Hudner’s exceptionally valiant action and selfless devotion to a shipmate sustain and enhance the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.”
The destroyer, now under CPT Thomas J. Hudner Jr. ’43 construction at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, is scheduled for completion The man Tom tried so courageously to save— in 2017. On April 12, Tom will be honored at a Jesse Brown—was honored in 1973 with the luncheon at the Maine Maritime Museum in commissioning of the Knox-class frigate USS Bath and provided a rare opportunity to meet Jesse L. Brown (FF-1089), the first ship named in members of the BIW construction crew. The honor of an African American. Tom, who retired event—to which Phillips Academy alumni, faculty, soon after as captain after 27 years of service, and students are invited—is being organized and joined Jesse’s widow Daisy and daughter Pamela underwritten by Marshall P. Cloyd ’58. for the commissioning and gave a dedication. Tom is the oldest surviving recipient of the Medal of Honor, one of seven awarded for service in the Korean War, and the only one awarded to a Naval Aviator during that conflict. His Medal of Honor Citation reads in part: “For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty in attempting to rescue a squadron mate forced down behind enemy lines, struck by enemy fire. LTJG Hudner risked his life to save the injured flier trapped alive in the burning wreckage. He put his plane down skillfully in a wheels-up landing on the rough mountainous terrain in the presence
Now it’s Tom’s turn to be honored with a ship bearing his name. The centuries-old tradition—a triad that brings a ship to life—begins with the keel laying, followed by the christening, culminating with the commissioning, which marks the entrance of a man-of-war into the naval forces of our nation. The start of fabrication on the USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) began November 15, 2012, at Bath Iron Works, with tentative dates for the keel laying in April 2015, the christening in March 2016, commissioning in early spring 2017, and deployment after the commissioning.
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