Posted on 06/09/2012 11:02:47 AM PDT by moonshot925
(CNN) -- An American pilot whose U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union will be posthumously awarded the Silver Star next week, 50 years after he was released from prison and returned to the United States.
The award for valor is being bestowed on Francis Gary Powers for exhibiting "exceptional loyalty" during harsh interrogation while in captivity by the Soviet Union for nearly two years, the Air Force said.
The Silver Star is the third-highest combat military decoration awarded to members of any U.S. military branch for valor in the face of the enemy, the Air Force said. The award will be presented to his family Friday during a ceremony at the Pentagon, officials said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Nice they’re finally getting around to awarding him the Silver Star, but it’s too bad they didn’t do it while he was still alive.
Why did it take so long?
Obama is looking for another quasi-military to cash in on. Don’t you know that he personally approved Gary’s flight? /s
Political stunt. Not respect.
He should have swallowed his capsule before being captured.
That was a big stink back then. He shouldn’t have been captured. We paid a huge price to get him back. We had just captured the biggest Soviet agent in the USA and had to trade him for FGP.
And led the efforts to get Gary Powers back to the USA.
He also was part of the design team for the U2 and made khrushchev very angry with his obstinate proAmerican rhetoric./s
And led the efforts to get Gary Powers back to the USA.
He also was part of the design team for the U2 and made khrushchev very angry with his obstinate proAmerican rhetoric./s
"The day my glorious comrades in the Soviet Union took down Gary Powers was a proud day for Marxists everywhere. But the only way I can acknowledge this day is to give out this stupid capitalist medal to a now dead puppet of capitalism."
"Today we honor Francis Gary Powers for the bravery and courage he demonstrated on my behalf..."
Why didn’t the Zero use his super powers to stop Power’s chopper from crashing huh? Power’s was white that’s why.
Powers's flight took place May 1, a big day in the Evil Empire (parade in Red Square and all that). It turns out, in the holiday confusion, the Rooskies shot down one of their own before they got Powers:
The marshal was debating whether to go home to change his clothes or go straight to Red Square when another call came from Sverdlovsk on the special phone. The general haltingly reported that the second parachutist had been found and that unfortunately he was one of ours, Senior Lieutenant Safronov.“What do you mean, one of ours?” The marshal barely kept from shouting. “How many planes did you shoot down? Can’t you tell the difference between ours and theirs?”
“His transponder wasn’t working,” lied the general. That lie was repeated many times later, until Igor Mentyukov cleared up the matter: The transponders were operating, but on the code for April, not May. In the preholiday flurry of activities, service personnel had not yet changed it. So not surprisingly, the radars perceived friendly as foe.
“How many missiles did you fire?” asked Biryuzov, gradually calming down.
“One, three, and then two more.” The general in Sverdlovsk began counting. “Fourteen in all,” he said, sounding depressed.
“And which one brought down the plane?”
“The first.”
He should have activated The U-2’s self-destruct charge, destroyed the camera, photographic film, and all related classified parts.
Then he should have swallowed the “lethal pill”.
I guess he panicked. The zero can appreciate that.
0bama is the one who fixed his fuel gauge...
All that trouble we went through to protect us from communism and we end up with Obama as president, and several more commies in the senate and house. Not a shot fired, not a missle launched. Sigh.
This is why he is leaking nat'l security info (to show what he's doing behind the scenes...approving drone kills, heading up the Iran cyberterror program, etc.) and why we see stories like the possibility of opening up the Philippines again for the US military.
Don't be fooled.
That never made sense to me. The only time it does, IMO, is in the middle of a shooting war. Trading the Soviet spy for Powers was more than worthwhile, given the risks Powers took for Uncle Sam every time he zipped up his flight suit and the working-over he absorbed at the hands of his Soviet interrogators.
Eisenhower had ordered the U-2 flights stopped, to avoid any incident which might imperil his impending trip to the USSR (where he would address the Russian people directly in a speech, among other things).
But the CIA went ahead with the flights anyway.
(Hey, since when did a President have control over the CIA?)
There are even suspicions that the plane was set-up, in order to scuttle the Ike trip.
Thomas Jefferson warned Us to “BWARE the Enemy within Our Gates, they are TEN Times more Dangerous than Those Outside the Gate!! How Right He Was and Still IS!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.