RIP Roy Aldridge, Korea and Vietnam Vet, and Chapter IX Member

Special Forces Association Chapter IX say's goodbye for now to Chapter Honorary Member, Roy E. Aldridge who crossed the line of departure 15 September 2020. Roy was born 10 September 1934, served for 23 years in the US Army (Korean War) and the US Air Force (Korean War and Vietnam) retiring as a Master Sergeant in 1973. He made two combat jumps in the Army: on 20 October 1950 into Sukchon North Korea; and, on 23 March 1951 into Munsan North Korea on Operation Tomahawk. And if that wasn't enough, after he joined the Air Force, he bailed out a burning bomber over North Korea April 13,1953 and subsequently became a  POW for 5 months.

Aldridge joined the Oklahoma National Guard with two of his cousins to have beer money. They were on their way to summer camp when their unit was Federalized, sent to Fort Polk, LA. From there he went to Fort Campbell, KY, for jump school, joined the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team known as the Rakkasans and went on to Korea. In August 1950, he found himself in a country he had never heard of to help people he did not know. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion I Company landing at Pusan, Korea. Shortly after the Inchon invasion and breakout from the Pusan Perimeter, the 187th went to Kimpo Air Base to make preparations for the jumps north of Pongang and Maunsani. Subsequent to the later jump he was wounded and at that time the Army found out that he was underage and he received a minority discharged and returned to the States.

After completion of high school, he reenlisted, this time in the Air Force. He returned to Korea in March 1953 assigned to the 67th Tactical Recon Wing in munitions. They were experiencing difficulties with the new proximity fuses on the photoflash bombs used in night photography so he volunteered to fly a milk run mission to ensure all the settings were correct. During this mission, the RB-26 received heavy antiaircraft fire and the crew was ordered to bail out over North Korea. Unfortunately, he was the only survivor and spent five months as a POW in PAK’s Palace. On September 4, 1953, he was in the final group repatriated, six days short of his 19th birthday.

In 1954, he was assigned to the Armed Forces Special Weapons Command, Kirkland AFB, NM where he underwent training in the assembly of nuclear weapons. He was later assigned to Task Force One Los Alamos, NM where he assembled and tested both above and below ground nuclear weapons at the Atomic Proving Grounds in Nevada and in the Pacific. This lead to him being assigned to Vandenberg AFB, CA and strategic missiles. He assembled the reentry vehicles used on the Thor, Atlas, Titan and Minuteman missile systems. In 1962 while stationed at Malmstrom AFB, MT, he was assigned to the crew that put the first armed missile on alert during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

In December, 1962, he was assigned to the First Aero-Commando Group and stationed at DaNang Air Base, South Vietnam, where he supported the Army’s Special Forces. He also made two “short trips” back to Vietnam. He had various other assignments including NASA and the Gemini IV Project, SHAPE Belgium, and his final assignment was as NCOIC of the Armed Forces School for Nuclear Weapons, Lowry, AFB, CO.

Since there was no demand for nuclear bomb builders, he attended Nuclear Medicine Technology training and spent the last 35 years in this career in Nuclear Medicine.

Roy was a worker and giver, spending years and decade as a member of many Veterans and community organizations:

Life Honorary Member SFA Chapter IX, 2004
Life Member Korean War Veterans Association
Life Member 187th Airborne RCT Association
Life Member 82nd Airborne Division Association
Life Member Veterans of Foreign Wars
Life member Disabled American Veterans
Life Member American Legion
Member of the Texas Veterans Coalition Representing SFA and KWVA
Member US Congressman Beto O’Rourke VAC Representing SF and KWVA
Member of the VAVS and VAH Directors Council Rep. SF and KWVA
Member of the National SF Planning committee
Current President of KWVA Chapter 249 El Paso, TX
Past National Director KWVA 2013-2017
Past 1st Vice President KWVA 2011-2013
Past 2nd Vive President KWVA 2009-2010
Past KWVA Commander Department of Texas.

As a honorary member of SFA Chapter IX, he supported many Chapter functions, including: the John McLaughlin Memorial Golf Tournament for over ten years; the USBP SOG EXPO; Christmas Food drive; Isaac Camacho Head Start school; and was the Sub Chairman, current, 2018 El Paso National Convention, War Eagles Project.

His awards and decorations include:

Silver Star Korea October 1950
Bronze Star w/V Device Korea March 1951
Purple Heart Korea March 1951
POW Medal – 5 months
Army Good Conduct Medal w 3 clusters
USAF Good Conduct Medal 1 Silver Oak leaf
PUC w/silver oakleaf
ROK PUC, Outstanding Unit Award w 1 Silver Oak Leaf
Army Commendation medal
USAF Commendation medal
Army Good Conduct Medal
USAF Good Conduct medal
Presidential Unit Citation
Korean Presidential Unit Citation
Vietnam Presidential Unit Citation
National Defense Medal with Bronze star
Korean Service Medal with Spear head 3 Battle stars
United Nations Service Medal
Korean Defense Service Medal
Vietnam Service Medal 4 stars
Vietnam Campaign Medal with clasp
USAF Senior NCO ribbon
USAF Outstanding Unit Award with V device
USAF Master Munitions Badge
USAF Master Missile Man Badge
He is survived by his wife Cheryl A. Aldridge and son Michael D Aldridge. He will be missed.

Korean War Chaplain Emil Kapaun - Medal of Honor

A monument was unveiled in Korea for Medal of Honor recipient Emil Kapaun who was a chaplain who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for refusing to abandon troops during combat finally has been recognized with a monument in the country where he died more than six decades ago.


The dark gray granite stone, erected by U.S. Army Garrison Daegu in front of the Camp Walker chapel, includes an image of Capt. Emil Kapaun supporting an injured soldier and the inscription, “He paid the ultimate sacrifice and consecrated the soul of Korea.” The monument, about four feet tall, was unveiled Dec. 19.

It’s the first memorial on the Korean peninsula for Kapaun, who died in a prisoner of war camp in May 1951 after being captured at Unsan the previous November. Although U.S. forces were surrounded and ordered to evacuate, the Roman Catholic priest stayed behind to comfort the wounded, despite the certainty of capture, and made rounds even as hand-to-hand combat broke out between U.S. and Chinese troops.

“We need inspiration and motivation to continue to serve the country,” deputy garrison chaplain Maj. Moon Kim said of Kapaun’s legacy. “People get easily discouraged or demotivated. But we see those forefathers who have gone before us and died, and they inspire us.”

The chaplain, a native of Pilsen, Kan., was awarded the Medal of Honor in April 2013.

“This is the valor we honor today,” President Barack Obama said during the award ceremony, “an American soldier who didn’t fire a gun, but who wielded the mightiest weapon of all: a love for his brothers so pure that he is willing to die so that they might live.”

After being captured, Kapaun pushed aside a Chinese soldier who was about to execute a U.S. soldier, saving his life, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. Before contracting dysentery and pneumonia and suffering from a blood clot in his leg, Kapaun ministered to other soldiers in the POW camp.

Kim said few South Koreans know Kapaun’s story, though some American troops have heard of him through spots on the American Forces Network or seen his picture in the Camp Walker chapel.

Kapaun Barracks and Kapaun Chapel in Kaiserslautern were named after the chaplain in 1955. Both have since been transferred to the Air Force and renamed Kapaun Air Station. A bust of the chaplain is also located outside the chapel.

Kapaun, whose body is thought to be buried in a mass grave, is being considered by the Vatican for sainthood.

Kim said the priest’s life is an inspiration for military chaplains, “especially when we deploy or go to other places.”

“He gave his life,” he said, so Kapaun is a motivation “to not complain, to do your best. We all need those kinds of heroes.”

The above story was by Ashley Rowland, Stars and Stripes, published 29 Dec 2014.  It's a good idea to click on this link and book mark Stars and Stripes, they have very good articles.    

Man, 88, awarded medals 61 years after release from North Korean POW Camp

The Korean War is often regulated to the back pages, likely as it came between World War II and the Vietnam War which both which were longer and had prolific effects on the American culture. SFA Chapter IX has it's own Korean War ex-POW with Roy Aldridge, so we are kind of sensitive to the Korean War being forgotten. So we gladly publish the following story of retired Army Master Sergeant James Hayden who finally received his due recognition 61 years following his release from captivity during and following the Korean War.

Retired Army Master Sgt. James Hayden kept insisting that he didn’t want any fuss about him even as a two-star general leaned in to pin long-overdue Army service medals to his collar. “I didn’t expect this,” said Hayden, 88. “I didn’t ask for any of it.”

But his family, friends and the Army insisted on the pageantry of a Joint Base Lewis-McChord (Tacoma, WA) ceremony. Hayden earned it, they said, in the nearly three years he spent imprisoned by North Korean and Chinese troops during the Korean War.

On Wednesday, almost 61 years to the day since he was freed from the camp, the Army finally awarded Hayden medals he earned by serving during the Korean War and for enduring the physical and psychological hardships of a long imprisonment.

“Little slow in recognition, but it’s never too late,” said Maj. Gen. Terry Ferrell, commander of Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s 7th Infantry Division. The ceremony gave Ferrell and a few dozen other soldiers a chance to revel in Hayden’s story.

They held the event in the headquarters of a battalion with a rich history in the Korean War and attracted Stryker soldiers who served recently as modern descendants of Hayden’s 9th Infantry Regiment. They wanted to pay their respects to Hayden, who not only fought in Korea, but also received a Silver Star for valor he showed in battle fighting in Germany during World War II.

On the day that would lead to Hayden’s Silver Star - March 15, 1945 – Hayden was ordered to inspect a tunnel that his unit suspected was being used to hide German soldiers. He hopped inside with a rifle. An enemy grenade damaged his rifle so much that Hayden could not return fire. Hayden got another rifle, went back in and attacked.

His Silver Star commendation says he killed two German soldiers, wounded four more and single-handedly took 12 as prisoners. “He put himself in harm’s way and he went back in,” Ferrell said. “He didn’t have to do that.”

Less than two months later, Hayden took a German bullet to the leg, ending his participation in that war. He received a Purple Heart for the wound. Hayden’s service did not end there. He went to Fort Lewis after his recovery, where he met his wife, the late Dorothy Hayden. He stayed in uniform because he found that he liked military life.

By 1950, Hayden was back at war fighting to repel a North Korean and Chinese advance toward Seoul. He was captured with more than 100 other soldiers on Dec. 1, 1950. Hayden remembered an all-night battle. By morning, the Americans were surrounded. Hayden’s commander chose to surrender rather than watch his soldiers die one-by-one.

As a prisoner, Hayden remembered receiving a cup of food in the morning and a cup in the afternoon. Temperatures in North Korea would drop to well below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, making the weather one of the greatest threats to his survival.

Many did not survive. Hayden remembered burying fallen prisoners of war in cold, hard earth. Hayden said he got by with the camaraderie of his fellow prisoners, and with his Catholic faith. “Prayer,” he said, kept him alive.

He was not released until Sept. 5, 1953. He came home 65 pounds lighter and with bones so damaged by malnutrition that he spent a year in Madigan Army Medical Center while doctors tried to repair his spine.

“I was just doing my duty,” Hayden said. “That’s what makes you special,” Ferrell told him.

Hayden would serve almost eight more years in the Army after he left Madigan, including another assignment in Germany. He retired with more than 18 years of total service. After the Army, Hayden spent his years in Lakewood raising his three daughters and helping his wife manage a beauty salon.

He did not receive those Korean War medals until his family reached out to U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Bellevue, and state Rep. Linda Kochmar, R-Federal Way. The lawmakers helped file the paperwork so the Army would recognize Hayden’s service.

Over the years, Hayden also lost his Silver Star. Hayden believes his sister got it and did not return it. It would be awfully nice to get that back, Hayden said, as he thanked Ferrell for the POW and Korean War medals. “I will get you one,” Ferrell promised.

Less than half an hour later, a soldier in the division found a Silver Star that Ferrell could present to Hayden. An officer read Hayden’s Silver Star commendation. Ferrell stood again to hand another medal to the long-retired veteran.

“I didn’t expect it, but I’m happy it happened,” Hayden said. “Sometimes surprises are good, and this one you earned,” Ferrell said.

Article from: The News Tribune, Tacoma, WA