America 250: D-Day
On June 6, 1944, approximately 156,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France. Nearly half of them were American. The invasion involved more than 7,000 naval vessels and over 11,000 aircraft. It remains the largest amphibious military operation in history. Allied forces suffered more than 10,000 casualties, including 2,501 Americans killed and thousands more from other nations. Their sacrifice helped turn the tide of World War II and led to the defeat of Nazi Germany less than a year later. Today, the invasion is commemorated annually in Normandy, as the number of surviving veterans, now around 100 years old, continues to decline.
There are six American heroes every citizen of this beautiful country needs to know for Memorial Day.
Today is a very heavy day for a lot of people. It’s the one day a year we set aside to shine a light on all the men and women who fought for our freedom and never made it home.
The goal is to honor every American who laid their life down for our country, our beautiful flag and for all our fellow citizens. Unfortunately, it’s also a very painful day for the family members of the fallen, and I can tell you that from firsthand experience.
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Death changes the survivors. It’s a wound that never heals, and while time can numb it, it can never erase the hole that is left behind when a father, son, brother, uncle, mother, daughter, sister, aunt or friend is killed in action. I know plenty of people who lost family members and teammates, and today won’t be easy for them.
In the spirit of honoring our great heroes, I want to take some time to name six great Americans I think everyone should know. Hopefully, this piece puts a smile on the face of anyone who lost someone in combat. We love you, we’re thinking about you and we won’t ever allow the memories of the fallen to be forgotten. Make sure to send me all your thoughts to David.Hookstead@outkick.com, and let’s roll.
Joshua Wheeler:
Joshua Wheeler is an American hero who died on a hostage rescue mission in 2015. ((Credit: United States Army/Public Domain))
Joshua Wheeler was a member of Delta Force, and was killed in action during a hostage rescue mission on Oct. 22, 2015 in Iraq.
Members of A Squadron conducted a high-risk hostage rescue mission against an ISIS stronghold to free roughly 70 hostages that the terror group was going to execute.
When the Kurdish forces started to falter in the assault, Wheeler stepped up and took charge of the situation in order to turn the tide.
Accounts vary depending on who you’re talking to, but it’s pretty widely-agreed that his final words were some variation of “follow me.”
He was struck by enemy fire leading the charge. Ultimately, the mission was a success, his teammate Thomas Payne earned the Medal of Honor and Wheeler laid down his life saving complete strangers.
I will never forget where I was when I heard about Wheeler’s death for the first time. I was sitting at a table at the Daily Caller office when MSNBC flashed his picture on the screen saying a service member had been killed. No details were known at the time.
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I turned to my buddy and said that he had to be a member of Delta Force. I’m not even sure why I said it. I could just see it in his eyes. The eyes of a man who had seen so much.
Over the past few years, I’ve gotten to know a lot of Josh’s former teammates from the Rangers and Delta Force. His death seems to have impacted people a lot more than many other deaths. The reason why is pretty simple:
They couldn’t fathom a guy like Josh could even be killed.
Josh wasn’t just a Delta Force operator. Joshua Wheeler was a legend. His former Rangers teammate Mike Burke told me the idea that a guy like him could die seemed impossible to believe.
His former Delta Force boss Jeff Tiegs told me that he had no doubt in his mind that Josh was smiling and laughing right up until the end. I hope that’s true.
Joshua Wheeler was a hell of a great American, and on this Memorial Day, it’s important we remember him.
Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart:
Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart. ((Credit: United States Military/Public Domain))
Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart – also members of Delta Force – were killed Oct. 3, 1993 in the Battle of Mogadishu (commonly known as “Black Hawk Down”).
The two Tier One snipers inserted into the crash site of Mike Durant’s helicopter in an attempt to protect him and save his life as a horde of heavily armed Somali fighters descended on the area.
Both men were initially denied permission to insert at the crash site. Permission was eventually granted after it was made clear there was no timetable for further forces to arrive. It was a suicide mission.
Yet, they still went knowing death was likely imminent.
Shughart and Gordon fought for as long as they could as wave after wave of enemy fighters rushed the crash site. Both men laid waste to the horde killing everyone they could get their sights on.
In what can only be described as a heroic last stand, both men were eventually killed, but Durant survived the battle after being taken prisoner and released.
Without Shughart and Gordon’s selfless sacrifice, Durant likely would have been murdered by the mob. Both men earned the Medal of Honor, and their actions were a major part of the movie “Black Hawk Down.”
They had the kind of courage you can’t teach. You either have it in your soul or you don’t. They looked at the scene on the ground, and knowing it would mean their lives, they went anyway in order to save Mike Durant. God bless both of these American heroes.
Connie Guilfoyle:
Connie Guilfoyle was killed in the Korean War after previously serving in WWII. ((Credit: The Domitrz Family))
Cornelius Guilfoyle – known as Connie – was a great-uncle of mine who is a legend among legends in my family.
Connie served as a navigator on a bomber crew in World War II, and earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses for raining death from the sky on Nazi forces throughout Europe.
He helped kick open the door of Europe and liberate the continent from the grip of Adolf Hitler.
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After the war, he returned to America to become a lawyer, but was recalled to fly a bomber in Korea. He was shot down in 1952 and never seen again.
Connie died at the age of 30 after having done more in his life than the average man could do in 1,000 lifetimes. He was younger than I am now when he died, and spent the majority of his adult life at war.
For those of you who have seen “Masters of the Air,” you know how horrific being on a bomber could be in World War II, and yet, he couldn’t get enough war.
The level of grit he had in his soul is beyond words. I obviously never met Connie, but I hope there’s some cold beer waiting for us on the other side so he can share some stories.
I keep his war medals next to my desk, and they will always be with me. He crushed the Nazis and gave his life saving people from communism in a land that wasn’t his own. I hope like hell he managed to unleash as much carnage on the enemy as possible before he went down in 1952.
Connie’s war medals. ((Credit: David Hookstead))
RIP to an absolute superhero of an American.
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John Chapman:
John Chapman was an Air Force CCT. ((Credit: United States Military/Public Domain/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Chapman#/media/File:Airman_to_be_awarded_Medal_of_Honor_180727-F-F3227-1001.jpg))
John Chapman is a name every single American should know simply because this guy had guts of absolute steel.
Chapman was part of Operation Anaconda as a 24th STS CCT attached to a SEAL Team 6 unit. The unit was part of a helicopter insertion package in the Battle of Takur Ghar in Afghanistan.
The Air Force Medal of Honor recipient was left alone by the DEVGRU operators after they came under heavy enemy fire. I’m not going to get into the controversy surrounding the SEALs and why he ended up alone. There are many different explanations out there, but the fact of the matter is he was left alone and was wounded.
Yet, John continued to fight by himself and his actions were picked up by a drone. You can see his truly heroic actions in the footage below.
If it doesn’t make you proud to be an American, nothing will.
I can’t imagine what was going through John’s head on that mountain. Wounded and alone, he simply refused to quit. In fact, he kept fighting to save the lives of the guys inserting on the position after the SEALs fell back the first time. Unfortunately, Chapman’s heroic actions were hidden for far too long, which led to some very ugly inter-military disputes. None of that matters today. What matters today is that Chapman be remembered for the actions that earned him the Medal of Honor. He was a damn good American.
Bob Horrigan:
Finally, we should all take a moment to remember and honor Bob Horrigan. Horrigan was another member of Delta Force, and I’ve had the opportunity to learn his story from a handful of former teammates. The respect they have for Bob is second to none. He was a seasoned operator, and by all accounts, simply an amazing human.
Bob was killed along with Mike McNulty June 17, 2005 during a raid on a terrorist compound in Iraq. The details of Bob and Mike’s death have only been publicly discussed once, and due to it not being my story to tell, I’ll keep it very simple.
Bob and Mike were in the front of a stack after making breach and took rounds fired from people inside the compound while coming up to a door.
Below is a video of former Delta operator Pat McNamara remembering his good friend Bob Horrigan. It’s definitely worth a listen.
One of the most tragic parts about Bob’s death was that it was going to be his final deployment. Retirement was near, and it was time for him to move on in life. He decided he had one more deployment in him, and made the ultimate sacrifice in 2005. He won’t be forgotten.
More than anything, I hope everyone reading this takes some time today to remember not just these six amazing Americans, but every American who never came home from war.
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As I said earlier, today is a rough day for a lot of people, but it’s also a great opportunity to smile. These men were all incredible humans who laid down their lives to protect their country. Every single one of them makes me proud to be an American, and I hope you have the same feeling. Whether they died on the blood-soaked sand of Omaha Beach, the jungles of Vietnam, the dry deserts of Iraq or anywhere else, their sacrifice won’t be forgotten.
Americans from the 1st U.S. Infantry land on Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944. Omaha Beach was the most difficult of the Normandy landing sites, with 2,400 soldiers killed in the first wave. (Getty Images)
So, today, call someone who might be struggling with a loss, talk to them, learn the story of a fallen hero, and don’t be afraid to smile. I’m cracking a beer and raising a toast to every single one of them because I know that’s what they’d be doing if they were still here. God bless the USA, and please let me know your thoughts at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.
David Hookstead is a reporter for OutKick.
