John J. Kedenburg
U.S. Army
Specialist Five Kedenburg distinguished himself on 13 June 1968 while serving with Command and Control North, Forward Operating Base 2, as an advisor to a long range reconnaissance patrol of South Vietnamese irregular troops. The team’s mission was to conduct counterguerrilla operations deep within enemy held territory. Prior to reaching the day’s objective, the team was attacked and encircled by a battalion-size North Vietnamese Army force. Specialist Five Kedenburg assumed immediate command of the team, which succeeded, after a fierce fight, in breaking out of the encirclement. As the team moved through thick jungle to a position from which it could be extracted by helicopter, Specialist Five Kedenburg conducted a gallant rear-guard fight against the pursuing enemy, and called for tactical air support and rescue helicopters. His withering fire against the enemy permitted the team to reach a pre-selected landing zone with the loss of only one man, who was unaccounted for. Once in the landing zone, Specialist Five Kedenburg deployed the team into a perimeter defense against the numerically superior enemy force. When tactical air support arrived, he skillfully directed air strikes against the enemy, suppressing their fire so that helicopters could hover over the area and drop slings to be used in the extraction of the team. After half of the team was extracted by helicopter, Specialist Five Kedenburg and the remaining three members of the team harnessed themselves to the sling on a second hovering helicopter. Just as the helicopter was about to lift them out of the area, the South Vietnamese team member who had been unaccounted for after the initial encounter with the enemy, appeared at the landing zone. Specialist Five Kedenburg unhesitatingly gave up his place in the sling to the man, and directed the helicopter pilot to leave the area. He then continued to engage the enemy who were swarming into the landing zone, killing six enemy soldiers before he was overpowered. Specialist Five Kedenburg’s inspiring leadership, consummate courage and willing self-sacrifice permitted his small team to inflict heavy casualties on the enemy and escape almost certain annihilation, His actions reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Army.For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action, at the risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty, Lieutenant Colonel Jackson distinguished himself as the pilot of a C-123 aircraft. Lieutenant Colonel Jackson volunteered to attempt the rescue of a three-man U.S. Air Force Combat Control Team from the Special Forces camp at Kham Duc. Hostile Forces had overrun the forward outpost and established gun positions on the airstrip. They were raking the camp with small arms fire, mortar, light and heavy automatic weapons, and recoilless rifle fire. The camp was engulfed in flames and ammunition dumps were continually exploding and littering the runway with debris. In addition, eight aircraft had been destroyed by the intense enemy fire, and one aircraft remained on the runway reducing its usable length to only 2,200 feet. To further complicate the landing, the weather was deteriorating rapidly, thereby permitting only one air strike prior to his landing. Although fully aware of the extreme danger and likely failure of such an attempt, Lieutenant Colonel Jackson elected to land his aircraft and attempt the rescue. Displaying superb airmanship and extraordinary heroism, he landed his aircraft near the point where the combat control team was reported to be hiding. While on the ground, his aircraft was the target of intense hostile fire. A rocket landed in front of the nose of the aircraft but failed to explode. Once the combat control team was aboard, Lieutenant Colonel Jackson succeeded in getting airborne despite the hostile fire directed across the runway in front of his aircraft. Lieutenant Colonel Jackson"s profound concerns for his fellow men, at the risk of his life, and above and beyond the call of duty, are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Air Force, and reflect great credit upon himself, and the Armed Forces of his country.' WHERE `ID` = 408; UPDATE `specialopsmemorial`.`tblwall` SET `Description` = 'For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action, at the risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty, Colonel Jones distinguished himself as the pilot of an A-1H Skyraider aircraft near Dong Hoi, North Vietnam. On that day, as the on-scene commander in the attempted rescue of a downed U.S. pilot, Colonel Jones" aircraft was repeatedly hit by heavy and accurate anti-aircraft fire. On one of his low passes, Colonel Jones felt an explosion beneath his aircraft and his cockpit rapidly filled with smoke. With complete disregard of the possibility that his aircraft might still be burning, he unhesitatingly continued his search for the downed pilot. On this pass, he sighted the survivor and a multiple-barrel gun position firing at him from near the top of a karst formation. He could not attack the gun position on that pass for fear that he would endanger the downed pilot. Leaving himself exposed to the gun position, Colonel Jones attacked the position with cannon and rocket fire on two successive passes. On his second pass, the aircraft was hit with multiple rounds of automatic weapons fire. On round impacted the Yankee Extraction System rocket mounted directly behind the headrest, igniting the rocket. His aircraft was observed to burst into flames in the center fuselage section, with flames engulfing the cockpit area. He pulled the extraction handle, jettisoning the canopy. The influx of fresh air made the fire burn with greater intensity for a few moments, but since the rocket motor had already burned, the extraction system did not pull Colonel Jones from the aircraft. Despite searing pains from severe burns sustained on his arms, hands, neck, shoulders, and face, Colonel Jones pulled his aircraft into a climb and attempted to transmit the location of the downed pilot and the enemy position to the other aircraft in the area. His calls were blocked by other aircraft transmissions repeatedly directing him to bail out, and within seconds his transmitters were disabled, and he could receive only on one channel. Completely disregarding his injuries, he elected to fly his crippled aircraft back to his base and pass on essential information for the rescuer rather than bail out. Colonel Jones successfully landed his heavily damaged aircraft and passed the information to a debriefing officer while on the operating table. As a result of his heroic actions and complete disregard for his personal safety, the downed pilot was rescued later in the day. Colonel Jones" profound concern for his fellow man, and at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty, are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Air Force, and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.' WHERE `ID` = 423; UPDATE `specialopsmemorial`.`tblwall` SET `Description` = 'Specialist Five Kedenburg distinguished himself on 13 June 1968 while serving with Command and Control North, Forward Operating Base 2, as an advisor to a long range reconnaissance patrol of South Vietnamese irregular troops. The team"s mission was to conduct counterguerrilla operations deep within enemy held territory. Prior to reaching the day"s objective, the team was attacked and encircled by a battalion-size North Vietnamese Army force. Specialist Five Kedenburg assumed immediate command of the team, which succeeded, after a fierce fight, in breaking out of the encirclement. As the team moved through thick jungle to a position from which it could be extracted by helicopter, Specialist Five Kedenburg conducted a gallant rear-guard fight against the pursuing enemy, and called for tactical air support and rescue helicopters. His withering fire against the enemy permitted the team to reach a pre-selected landing zone with the loss of only one man, who was unaccounted for. Once in the landing zone, Specialist Five Kedenburg deployed the team into a perimeter defense against the numerically superior enemy force. When tactical air support arrived, he skillfully directed air strikes against the enemy, suppressing their fire so that helicopters could hover over the area and drop slings to be used in the extraction of the team. After half of the team was extracted by helicopter, Specialist Five Kedenburg and the remaining three members of the team harnessed themselves to the sling on a second hovering helicopter. Just as the helicopter was about to lift them out of the area, the South Vietnamese team member who had been unaccounted for after the initial encounter with the enemy, appeared at the landing zone. Specialist Five Kedenburg unhesitatingly gave up his place in the sling to the man, and directed the helicopter pilot to leave the area. He then continued to engage the enemy who were swarming into the landing zone, killing six enemy soldiers before he was overpowered. Specialist Five Kedenburg"s inspiring leadership, consummate courage and willing self-sacrifice permitted his small team to inflict heavy casualties on the enemy and escape almost certain annihilation, His actions reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Army.
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