This was sent to me by Jack Cassidy, an Army Special Forces vet, with the following endorsement.
This came to me today from an SF pal who was at Dong Xoui SF Camp in Vietnam when Charlie Williams won the MOH. He later served another VN tour there with the 173rd Abn Bde and is highly decorated himself. Dong Xoui was the site of the first combat parachute assault by the 5th SFG Mike Force of which I had the pleasure of jumpmastering a plane load of troops into a jungle hell. He’s an A1 source, great patriot and old war dog. This story is great. Please share it.
De Oppresso Liber!
Here’s the note:
Yesterday our son Jim and grandson Jimmy were at the Philadelphia airport awaiting a flight to Nashville. They had tickets to see the Titans and Texans football game today. Also awaiting the flight were 9 members of a Special Forces A Team who were returning from a tour of duty in Iraq. Being the Army (Special Forces) brat that he is, Jim immediately struck up a conversation with members of the team. They told Jim they were with the 5th Special Forces Group headquartered at Fort Campbell. Jim and Jimmy spent quite a bit of time with the soldiers and Jimmy had his picture taken with a few of them. Before boarding, the US Airways personnel at the desk called six of the nine members up to the desk and upgraded their seats to first class ones. After boarding was completed, three people who were seated in first class, entered the tourists section and the flight attendants escorted the remaining three team members up to the first class seats. Those three people gave up their first class seats to our soldiers. During the flight the captain of the aircraft announced that nine soldiers just returning from Iraq were on the plane. The passengers broke out in cheers and applause.
It is so good to hear of the support our soldiers received from US Airways and the general public on that aircraft. It is also wonderful to hear of the generosity of the three civilians who gave up their luxury seating to allow the three soldiers still in coach seating to sit with their team members. This is a story that should be told around our country. It makes me proud and tearful.
I say this loudly and very proudly: God Bless Our Troops, and God Bless America!
Jim and Shari Taylor
