An Air Force legend died earlier in the week. Retired Air Force Colonel Joe Jackson, a medal of honor recipient. He was famous for the daring rescue of three airmen who were stranded at an airfield of an abandoned army special forces camp during the Tet offensive of the Vietnam War in 1968.
His deeds saved the lives of three men, but risked his own, as the airfield had been the site of multiple U.S. Aircraft shootdowns and aircrew fatalities over a 24 hours period. Under heavy fire from all directions, he swooped down between the wreckage, stopped the plane, the airmen jumped in and he took off, just ahead of artillery fire. Jackson would eventually be awarded the medal of honor by President Lyndon B. Johnson on January 16, 1969. He was 95.
