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Cold War pilot Francis Gary Powers to get Silver Star
CNN ^ | June 9 2012 | Staff

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 ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: coldwar; gary; powers; u2
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To: billorites

Obama Hussein is really a Flaming Butthead! I am sure Putin ordered Obama to have this award posted now to highlight the Superiority of Communism.


21 posted on 06/09/2012 12:17:20 PM PDT by True Republican Patriot (May GOD SAVE OUR AMERICA from ALLAH and his Prophet, HUSSEIN OBAMA!!)
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To: True Republican Patriot
Try Cicero.........

I call Jefferson "the copycat".

But remember, this was common back then. It was a measure of one's education. Hence, we have the Federalist papers.

22 posted on 06/09/2012 12:29:04 PM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: Zhang Fei

He knew the risks. We traded an asset more important than FGP. Why didn’t he destroy the aircraft? When time came for him to perform he failed.


23 posted on 06/09/2012 12:36:42 PM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie (zerogottago)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie
Exactly! My late husband's squadron flew escort for Powers. He was a crypto man and always carried a capsule in his flight suit. He would have destroyed the code books and swallowed the capsule before letting the Russkies have them. Powers should have done the same, but...........
24 posted on 06/09/2012 12:40:50 PM PDT by Coldwater Creek (He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty Psalm 91:)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie
Why didn’t he destroy the aircraft?

Huh? The aircraft was shot out from underneath him. The pieces landed in what is now Azerbaijan.

Am I missing something in your post?

5.56mm

25 posted on 06/09/2012 12:46:28 PM PDT by M Kehoe
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To: Coldwater Creek

FGP was much closer to being classified as a spy than a pilot. Granted the U2 was difficult to fly at cruise his real job was to guard the secrets entrusted to him. He failed miserably and gave Dwight a big black eye.

More interesting is to compare Dwight’s behavior when behind the eight ball to our current White House Occupier in his time of trouble. In fact you can’t compare them. Dwight was much more of a man.


26 posted on 06/09/2012 12:51:03 PM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie (zerogottago)
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To: M Kehoe

He had self destruct capability for the classified equipment.

He parachuted safely to the ground so he obviously had some time to make decisions.


27 posted on 06/09/2012 12:53:52 PM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie (zerogottago)
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To: True Republican Patriot

I guess now that the Zero is convinced he’s going to loose, he’s got that flexibility he was talking about.

How often does good news turn out in the end to be bad news after all.


28 posted on 06/09/2012 12:56:01 PM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie (zerogottago)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie
He had self destruct capability for the classified equipment.

Correct, and he did have some time before the aircraft came apart. How much, I don't know, but it probably wasn't much at that altitude and speed.

5.56mm

29 posted on 06/09/2012 1:00:19 PM PDT by M Kehoe
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To: Coldwater Creek

Do we know if FGP was Catholic?

Mortal sin to commit suicide.


30 posted on 06/09/2012 1:29:47 PM PDT by Hulka
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie
We traded an asset more important than FGP.

An entry in Wikipedia notes that the Vilyam Fisher, the nom de guerre of the KGB agent operating as an illegal (i.e. without diplomatic cover, and thus immunity) who was traded for Powers, was a nonentity that the Soviets nonetheless accepted in exchange for Powers, pretty much for the same reason that we did the trade - for employee morale:

It suited the KGB, for the sake of its own reputation, to portray "Abel's" nine years of being an undetected agent in the U.S., as a triumph by a dedicated NKVD member. The myth of the master spy Rudolf Abel replaced the reality of Fisher's illegal residency. The party hierarchy was well aware that Fisher had achieved nothing of real significance. During his eight years as an illegal resident he appears not to have recruited, or even identified, a single potential agent.

31 posted on 06/09/2012 1:50:15 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie
"(President) Dwight (Eisenhower)was much more of a man (than Obama)."

Understatement of the year.

32 posted on 06/09/2012 1:53:03 PM PDT by Former Proud Canadian (Obamanomics-We don't need your stinking tar sands oil, we'll just grow algae.)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

His primary job was as a pilot. He was NOT expected to kill himself, never was required, either.

From: Memorandum of Discussion at the 445th Meeting of the National Security Council, Washington, May 24, 1960.
“Secretary Gates asked whether the pilot of the U-2 had been briefed to tell the truth if he were captured. Mr. Dulles said the pilot had been told to reveal whatever he himself knew, including the fact that he worked for CIA.”
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/vx153.asp

FGP acted honorable and with courage given the situation, expectations and circumstances.


33 posted on 06/09/2012 1:55:12 PM PDT by Hulka
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie
FGP was much closer to being classified as a spy than a pilot. Granted the U2 was difficult to fly at cruise his real job was to guard the secrets entrusted to him. He failed miserably and gave Dwight a big black eye.

Given that Americans don't exist to improve the stature of any national equivalent of the Man on a White Horse, it's not clear that this is such a big moral defect on Powers's part. If Ike blamed Powers for not killing himself, then he was asking for something far above and beyond what we asked of combat troops in WWII. Imagine the national furor and the impact on morale if bomber crews over Berlin or Tokyo had been asked to kill themselves to avoid revealing operational secrets in the event of imminent capture.

34 posted on 06/09/2012 2:01:22 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: billorites

Please tell me the kenyan didn’t say that.


35 posted on 06/09/2012 2:06:21 PM PDT by combat_boots (The Lion of Judah cometh. Hallelujah. Gloria Patri, Filio et Spiritui Sancto.)
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To: Hulka
Do we know if FGP was Catholic?

Hopefully that kind of thing is worked out before someone is chosen for a mission and is issued the poison with everyone thinking that everything is in place.

In ground units where that might be called for, you can hope for a friend to do it to you before they have to move on.

36 posted on 06/09/2012 2:06:29 PM PDT by ansel12 (Massachusetts Governors, where the GOP now goes for it's Presidential candidates.)
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To: Zhang Fei

I remember reading about Abel’s post-exchange fate. He was given a chair at KGB headquarters. Not even a desk...a chair. And he wasn’t assigned anything of consequence.

When a friend crossed Abel’s path in Moscow after his return, and asked what he was doing now, Abel lamentably replied “I’m a museum exhibit”.


37 posted on 06/09/2012 2:12:59 PM PDT by M1903A1 ("We shed all that is good and virtuous for that which is shoddy and sleazy... and call it progress")
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To: ansel12

Who knows.

Post 33 raises the fact FGP was not explicitly told to (or expected to) kill himself.

The pill would be an option, not a requirement.


38 posted on 06/09/2012 2:14:18 PM PDT by Hulka
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To: Hulka

Option? If the soldier tells you that I am Catholic I cannot comply with that part of the mission if chosen, then the “option” is off the table, the pill serves no purpose.


39 posted on 06/09/2012 2:49:33 PM PDT by ansel12 (Massachusetts Governors, where the GOP now goes for it's Presidential candidates.)
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To: Zhang Fei
If Ike blamed Powers for not killing himself, then he was asking for something far above and beyond what we asked of combat troops in WWII. Imagine the national furor and the impact on morale if bomber crews over Berlin or Tokyo had been asked to kill themselves to avoid revealing operational secrets in the event of imminent capture.

There were missions requiring not being taken alive in WWII almost certainly, even in the 1980s some GI's knew that suicide or a team mate's assistance was known to be a reality in worse case scenarios.

40 posted on 06/09/2012 2:54:24 PM PDT by ansel12 (Massachusetts Governors, where the GOP now goes for it's Presidential candidates.)
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