Mizzou B-ball fan
12-18-2011, 11:52 AM
Last night, we had a fantastic wedding at our winery. We had a bride/groom that were both in the Airborne. As luck had it, they were supposed to get married next June, but they were both called up and will be leaving in a few weeks. So they changed locations to our winery and were married last night. It was one of those weddings where you enjoyed working it because you could tell that they were just really good people.
Fast forward to later in the night. I found out from the father of the bride and three of his friends that they were long-time friends from the military. As we chatted, I learned that they were four of the 56 Son Tay Raiders. These guys flew in on a stealth mission into North Vietnam to rescue U.S. soldiers from a prison camp. They had only 30 minutes to complete their mission. They did it in 29 minutes. It resulted in 50 dead North Vietnamese soldiers and only one wounded U.S. soldier. They figured out when they got there that there were no POW's in the camp, but the message was sent to North Vietnam that the U.S. meant business about the treatment of its POW's. The small torture camps were mostly shut down and POW's were moved into centrally located prisons. All raiders were awarded the Silver Star for valor in combat.
The father of the bride was the youngest soldier selected. He was 20 at the time and had no combat experience. Here's a pic of him at a recent Son Tay reunion.....
http://www.sontayraider.com/Picture%20072.jpg
The only soldier who was wounded during the raid was also at the wedding. His name is Joseph Murray, seen here in the blue shirt. He received the Purple Heart for his wound. The man to the right was also there last night and was a Son Tay Raider.
http://www.sontayraider.com/IMG_1001.jpg
History of the raid is on these sites.
The Son Tay Raid (http://www.psywarrior.com/sontay.html)
Son Tay Raider Association - Web Site (http://www.sontayraider.com/)
Just thought I'd share. It was a fantastic wedding and it was only made better that I was able to meet several members of the military, including the highly-decorated veterans I mentioned above.
Fast forward to later in the night. I found out from the father of the bride and three of his friends that they were long-time friends from the military. As we chatted, I learned that they were four of the 56 Son Tay Raiders. These guys flew in on a stealth mission into North Vietnam to rescue U.S. soldiers from a prison camp. They had only 30 minutes to complete their mission. They did it in 29 minutes. It resulted in 50 dead North Vietnamese soldiers and only one wounded U.S. soldier. They figured out when they got there that there were no POW's in the camp, but the message was sent to North Vietnam that the U.S. meant business about the treatment of its POW's. The small torture camps were mostly shut down and POW's were moved into centrally located prisons. All raiders were awarded the Silver Star for valor in combat.
The father of the bride was the youngest soldier selected. He was 20 at the time and had no combat experience. Here's a pic of him at a recent Son Tay reunion.....
http://www.sontayraider.com/Picture%20072.jpg
The only soldier who was wounded during the raid was also at the wedding. His name is Joseph Murray, seen here in the blue shirt. He received the Purple Heart for his wound. The man to the right was also there last night and was a Son Tay Raider.
http://www.sontayraider.com/IMG_1001.jpg
History of the raid is on these sites.
The Son Tay Raid (http://www.psywarrior.com/sontay.html)
Son Tay Raider Association - Web Site (http://www.sontayraider.com/)
Just thought I'd share. It was a fantastic wedding and it was only made better that I was able to meet several members of the military, including the highly-decorated veterans I mentioned above.