Why a congressman is urging Mattis to upgrade a fallen Marine’s Silver Star

A Republican congressman from California is urging Secretary of Defense James Mattis to consider upgrading the posthumously awarded Silver Star of Marine 1st Lt. Travis Manion to the nation’s second highest award for combat bravery, the Navy Cross.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Marine Corps veteran, sent a letter to Mattis in early June asking Mattis' office to review “new material evidence” that supports upgrading the fallen Marine’s award. In a phone call to Marine Corps Times Hunter said, Manion "was nominated in country for a Navy Cross by his chain of command. This is something that is deserving of a second look.” “Not one living person was awarded the Medal of Honor under President Bush. Administrations have been better about award reviews since then. Given the new testimony that has been presented, this award warrants a look by the current administration," Hunter said.

Manion was originally submitted for the Navy Cross for exposing himself to enemy fire on multiple occasions and leading his men during an intense ambush while serving with a military transition team tasked with training and advising the Iraqi army in 2007. But his award was downgraded to the Silver Star. Manion and his men were ambushed during a patrol near Fallujah, Iraq, on April 29, 2007. “As First Lieutenant Manion’s patrol concluded a search of a suspected insurgent house, it came under precision small arms fire attack,” Manion’s award Silver Star citation reads. “With the Corpsman grievously wounded by enemy fire and the attack developing into a full-scale ambush, First Lieutenant Manion and a fellow Marine exposed themselves to the increasing fire to pull the Corpsman out of the kill zone.” Manion was killed by a sniper during the attack.

The new evidence in support of Manion’s upgrade is a witness statement from former Marine Staff Sgt. Paul D. Petty, who claims Manion continued to fire nearly 300 rounds of ammunition from his M4 and a grenade from his M203 after being wounded. “While Manion was firing well-aimed shots into the enemy, he was mortally wounded while conducting a magazine exchange,” the statement from Petty reads.

Duncan’s letter to Mattis says the actions of Manion that day saved the lives of every man in his platoon. Ryan Manion, the first lieutenant’s sister and head of the Travis Manion Foundation based in Pennsylvania, told Marine Corps Times, “I do not believe Travis would care either way if his award was upgraded or not. That was type of character that Travis was though. The award gives an understanding of the situation for those that were not there. It represents his sacrifice to what he did."

https:// www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2018/07/18/why-a-congressman-is-urging-mattis-to-upgrade-a-fallen-marines-silver-star/

>>2205388

1999

JFK Jr. killed in plane crash

On July 16, 1999, John F. Kennedy, Jr.; his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy; and her sister, Lauren Bessette, die when the single-engine plane that Kennedy was piloting crashes into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr., was born on November 25, 1960, just a few weeks after his father and namesake was elected the 35th president of the United States. On his third birthday, “John-John” attended the funeral of his assassinated father and was photographed saluting his father’s coffin in a famous and searing image. Along with his sister, Caroline, he was raised in Manhattan by his mother, Jacqueline. After graduating from Brown University and a very brief acting stint, he attended New York University Law School. He passed the bar on his third try and worked in New York as an assistant district attorney, winning all six of his cases. In 1995, he founded the political magazine George, which grew to have a circulation of more than 400,000. Unlike many others in his famous family, he never sought public office himself.

Always in the media spotlight, he was celebrated for the good looks that he inherited from his parents. In 1988, he was named the “Sexiest Man Alive” by People magazine. He was linked romantically with several celebrities, including the actress Daryl Hannah, whom he dated for five years. In September 1996, he married girlfriend Carolyn Bessette, a fashion publicist. The two shared an apartment in New York City, where Kennedy was often seen inline skating in public. Known for his adventurous nature, he nonetheless took pains to separate himself from the more self-destructive behavior of some of the other men in the Kennedy clan.

On July 16, 1999, however, with about 300 hours of flying experience, Kennedy took off from Essex County airport in New Jersey and flew his single-engine plane into a hazy, moonless night. He had turned down an offer by one of his flight instructors to accompany him, saying he “wanted to do it alone.” To reach his destination of Martha’s Vineyard, he would have to fly 200 miles–the final phase over a dark, hazy ocean–and inexperienced pilots can lose sight of the horizon under such conditions. Unable to see shore lights or other landmarks, Kennedy would have to depend on his instruments, but he had not qualified for a license to fly with instruments only. In addition, he was recovering from a broken ankle, which might have affected his ability to pilot his plane.

At Martha’s Vineyard, Kennedy was to drop off his sister-in-law Lauren Bessette, one of his two passengers. From there, Kennedy and his wife, Carolyn, were to fly on to the Kennedy compound on Cape Cod’s Hyannis Port for the marriage of Rory Kennedy, the youngest child of the late Robert F. Kennedy. The Piper Saratoga aircraft never made it to Martha’s Vineyard. Radar data examined later showed the plane plummeting from 2,200 feet to 1,100 feet in a span of 14 seconds, a rate far beyond the aircraft’s safe maximum. It then disappeared from the radar screen.

https:// www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jfk-jr-killed-in-plane-crash

>>2205539

WTF, explain yourself, please. What is your problem anon?