The War No One Told You About

Veteran aviation author Robert F. Dorr and astronaut and pilot Thomas D. Jones have produced Hell Hawks!, a riveting account of the gritty and unheralded war fought by the young Thunderbolt pilots of the Ninth Air Force. Hell Hawks! is the untold story of an aerial band of brothers, long overlooked by military historians of WWII in Europe. Their narrative follows the 365th Fighter Group, the Hell Hawks, from combat in England supporting the D-Day invasion, across the Channel to France for close air support missions flown from a Norman apple orchard, to tank-busting sorties in the flak-filled skies over the Bulge, to the final defeat of the Wehrmacht in the spring of 1945. Through dozens of interviews, the authors let the voices of pilots and ground crewmen tell what it was like to fly daily into the teeth of Luftwaffe fighters and Wehrmacht flak to help win the victory in Europe.

Jones and Dorr's research has forged close relationships with many pilots and ground crewmen of the 365th Fighter Group, who in their book represent the 17 other Ninth Air Force fighter-bomber outfits. From talks with these veterans, the authors have collected dozens of unpublished photos of the 365th Fighter Group’s daily operations. Publication of Hell Hawks! by Zenith Press

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Another County approves Cold War Vets Exemption!!!

Cold War Vets to Receive Property Tax Exemption

by Eric Gross

Veterans who served their country during the Cold War are now eligible for a property tax exemption following a unanimous vote of the Putnam County Legislature.

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Another County approves Cold War Vets Exemption!!!

The latest from IAVA

Dear Sean,

Last night, President Obama presented his new policy for the war in Afghanistan. And today, the cable news networks are buzzing with debate about troop numbers and timelines.

But it's just as important for our nation's leaders to focus on a plan to support those troops when they get back.

Click here to add your name to an open letter, urging our leaders in Washington to present their plan for supporting these new veterans.

The true cost of the war in Afghanistan, like all wars, has to include a lifetime of support for veterans and their families. As crucial as the number of planes, trucks and weapons allocated to Afghanistan are the number of surgeons, psychiatrists and case workers resourced at home.

Please take a minute to add your name to an open letter, and stand with IAVA to make sure that our country has the proper resources in place for this new surge of vets.

With your help, IAVA will continue working to ensure that our returning troops receive the welcome home they deserve - from the President, Congress, the Department of Defense, the VA, and the American people.

Thank you for continuing to stand with us.

Sincerely,

Paul

Paul Rieckhoff
Executive Director & Founder
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)

Jim Brown: Director of Radio Free Europe during the Cold War

Jim Brown played an important role in the Cold War through a long career with Radio Free Europe (RFE), ending as Director from 1978 to 1984, when he resigned because of disagreements with the Reagan administration.

RFE was one of the good project on which the CIA spent its money. The funding remained covert (although many people knew or guessed) in the early 1970s, when Congress voted for open financing under a new Board for International Broadcasting. Based in Munich, RFE broadcast in local languages to Eastern Europe, acting as an exiled domestic radio station providing news and comment that was unavailable in the tightly censored media of the communist world. Audiences were huge, and included the regimes themselves, so the station became an important factor in East European politics, particularly in Poland, which after the Cold War awarded him the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit.

As Brown wrote in his unpublished memoir: "It broke the communist information monopoly and gave East Europeans the chance to think and judge for themselves... It tried to keep Eastern Europe's societies together....

This was RFE's basic task, and it was a worthy one. On a more individual, personal level it kept East Europeans company... levelling with its audience, not trying to lever it. Several East Europeans whom I met after 1989 stressed that it was this companionable, almost pastoral, function of RFE that helped keep their spirits up and for which they were the most grateful."

In 1992 he was introduced to Vaclav Havel, who greeted him warmly with the words... "Jim! We were colleagues!" - a tribute to RFE's important role in disseminating the writings of human rights movements in Eastern Europe. For Brown, "That made everything worthwhile".

Brown was born in the United States of British parents. When his father (a miner who became a tram conductor in the US) died, he moved to Britain with his mother, went to school there, and graduated in History from Manchester University before doing an MA under Sir Lewis Namier.

In 1957, after National Service in the RAF, he joined RFE as an editor and then became a research analyst for Bulgaria and Romania. This was shortly after the major reassessment of RFE that followed the Hungarian uprising in 1956, which was crushed by Soviet tanks at the cost of thousands of Hungarian lives and the imprisonment or exile of many others.

In that period Washington had been indulging in rhetorical promises to roll back the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe, and RFE was widely accused of having fomented the uprising and fostered unrealistic hopes of Western help. A detailed investigation found that there had been no direct encouragement to revolt or promise of help, but the shrill, exhortatory tone and several very irresponsible broadcasts, including advice on military tactics, were strongly condemned and certainly did great damage. As a result, major changes were made in policies and personnel.

Read obit here

Arguments for a Cold War Service Medal and the Pentagons usual opposition to Cold War Service Medal : You decide who is right?

Arguments for a Cold War Service Medal:

1. No Campaign Medal exists to recognize the dedicated participation of these service members who "Stood Watch" in the cause of promoting world Peace and stability, and who also participated in hundreds of military exercises and operations that occurred between the start of the Cold War on 02 September 1945 and the end of the Cold War on 26 December 1991.
a) Although there have been some instances where a medal or ribbon such as Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, KDSM, Vietnam Service Medal have been issued; the vast majority of veterans did not receive any medal.
b) Service members stood on the line in the Fulda Gap, facing a force ten times their size. They did this knowing that they
were present only to "slow down" the Soviets.
c) Missile silos, ships and submarines SAC planes were all armed and ready 24/7
 
2. Millions of Cold War Veterans prevented communist world domination and nuclear war, and it is fitting that these service members who served Honorably during this era receive proper governmental recognition for their efforts in the form of the timely award of the Cold War Service Medal.
a) Another reason many Cold War Veterans received no awards was due to so called "early discharge", at the discretion
of the Secretary of Defense, as reduction in force. This means they did not even receive a Good Conduct Medal.
b_ Many of our allies have either issued a Cold War Medal or are in the process of debating and issuing a medal.
c) Since 1991 several medals and ribbons have been issued: Overseas Service, Sea Service and others, which our Cold War
Veterans were not eligible to receive; having been released from duty prior to that date.

3.During this period, thousands of these service members were killed, wounded, and became missing in Cold War overseas operations, which were separate and distinct from other recognized wars such as the Korean War and the Vietnam War. In addition many were exposed to chemicals, atomic radiation, and other substances that created health problems; without the
service members knowledge.
a) Although the VFW reports approximately 380 deaths in the Cold War, there were in fact many more that were reported as
"operator error", "training accidents"; which were in fact due to hostile actions.
b) These incidents made the "morning report", but not the morning newspaper
c) Veterans exposed to Atomic Radiation are just now being recognized for their valor, and dangers they faced.
d) Many service members were treated with serums untested and not approved by FDA. Service members used as
human guinea pigs, nothing was explained as to possible risks, and they were unable to refuse these treatments.
e) Korea, Vietnam, Beirut, Granada, the Congo, Hati, Dominican Republic were all part of the Cold War

4.The United States Government has not properly recognized the dedicated service of these Veterans who sacrificed so much, with many of their actions and activities shrouded in secrecy to this day, more than seventeen years removed, so that they receive and maintain no identity as Cold War era Veterans.
a) The National Defense Service Medal, which today is issued to recruits when basic training is completed, is another example.
Prior to 9/11 2001 this medal was only issued in specific time periods. Once again many veterans due to the period of their
service missed this medal.
b) The Global War on Terrorism and Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary were also issued after the fact for our veterans.
c) The Armed Forces Service Medal was issued in 1996, it was not made retroactive, thus we missed again.
d) Many service member received "early discharge", at the discretion of the Secretary of Defense, as "reduction in forces".

5. The award of the Cold War Service Medal to these Veterans by the United States Congress, via the Secretary of Defense, is supported by the American Cold War Veterans, and supported via resolution by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, AMVETS, the Air Force Sergeants Association, the Naval Reserve Association, the State Guard Association of the United States, and other Veterans organizations.
a) These VSO's support the Cold War Service Medal as an honor that is just and due.
b) Said VSO's are also fighting loss of membership and see this medal as a possible means to increase membership.

6. Advocates For Cold War Veterans' Honor, feels that concerned People who support the award of the Cold War Service Medal to these service members, that they begin to heal the wounds of Cold War Veterans, their families and friends affected by that, and that they bring Honor back unto their loved ones, themselves and their country.
a) Our veterans have waited for too long to be recognized and remembered.
b) 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the 17th anniversary of the demise of the Soviet
Union, and thus the end of the Cold War.
c) That makes this year as celebrations around the world take note of the fall of the Berlin Wall a most opportunistic  time
to remember and honor our veterans, too long forgotten, a Cold War Medal.



SEC DEF Under Secretary with its usual opposition to Cold War Service Medal

Cold War veterans served, too

From David O'Gorman

Mountain Home:

In response to Mr. William McElrath and Mr. Jerald Terwilliger's letters of Nov. 11, and to Mr. Paul Riegle's letter of Nov. 13 regarding "Cold War Vets." I, too, tried to join the VFW and the American Legion and was denied membership because my service was not during a certain period of time. I served on the USS Haas and the USS Ticonderoga here in the states and the Western Pacific from 1956 to 1960, yet I'm not eligible to join these service organizations.

It seems to me that these organizations could benefit greatly with our membership. Nov. 11 is Veterans Day in recognition of all veterans who served our country. Our congressmen in Washington have introduced a bill which will create May 1 as "Cold War Veterans Day." No comment.

So, next Veterans Day let's remember all who served to keep all Americans safe and strong.


http://www.baxterbulletin.com/article/20091201/OPINION01/912010309/1014/OPINION/Cold-War-veterans-served--too