Claire Barrett

1 week ago | militarytimes.com | Claire Barrett

Following a decade-long recovery and identification mission led by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency — and more than 80 years since he was killed in the hellish Guadalcanal campaign — U.S. Marine Corps Pvt. Charmning Rowe returned home this month. “Today we close the chapter on a story that began in 1942 and bring home a hero,” said Sgt. Matthew Wedding, the Marine charged with escorting Rowe’s remains.

1 week ago | militarytimes.com | Claire Barrett

Thirty-three years after the National Guard was first called to enter Los Angeles, its members are once again back in The City of Angels — this time under different circumstances. Codified in the 1903 Militia Act and the National Defense Act of 1916, the 54 National Guard units of today are a part-time reserve force that serve either the state or federal governments in times of emergency or war.

2 weeks ago | militarytimes.com | Claire Barrett

Thanks to a new bill, the Medal of Honor may be awarded to service members for acts of valor that occurred decades ago. “Valor never expires,” Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who introduced the Valor Has No Expiration Act, said in a recent press release. “Neither should the opportunity for our bravest heroes to be recognized with our highest honor.

3 weeks ago | militarytimes.com | Claire Barrett

He couldn’t recall how he had gotten there — all Douglas Hegdahl could remember was leaving behind his glasses in his bunk and going up to the top deck of the cruiserCanberra to watch the ship firing its guns off the Gulf of Tonkin. “I can’t tell you how I fell from my ship,” Hegdahl said after his release in 1969. “All I know is, I walked up on the deck.

1 month ago | militarytimes.com | Claire Barrett

It was supposed to be a routine mission. On April 10, 1944, Maj. Donald K. Willis, flying with the 55th Fighter Squadron, 20th Fighter Group, was tasked with escorting an Allied bombing run on a Nazi aerodrome in Gütersloh, Germany. What was expected to elicit a few hours of adrenaline, however, stretched into two months on the run. While piloting his P-38 Lightning home from his mission, one of Willis’ engines was hit by enemy flak.