[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 66 (Thursday, May 10, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S3081]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


          TRIBUTE TO RETIRED CAPTAIN THOMAS JEROME HUDNER, JR.

  Mr. BROWN of Massachusetts. Mr. President, I rise today in tribute to 
retired United States Navy Captain Thomas Jerome Hudner, Jr. of 
Concord, MA, a true American hero. For his uncommon valor and 
dedication to the highest principals of our military, the Navy 
announced this week it will name the Arleigh Burke class guided-missile 
destroyer DDG 116 the USS Thomas Hudner.
  It is a distinct honor, for an individual to have a Navy vessel 
commissioned in their name; it is an extremely rare honor indeed for a 
warship to be named after a living person. Yet there are few, if any, 
people more deserving of this honor than Tom Hudner.
  A native of Fall River, MA, Hudner was a student at Philips Exeter 
Academy when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Already a leader on 
his school's athletic fields and in its student government, he 
responded to the call of duty and was admitted to the U.S. Naval 
Academy. Though World War II ended before his commissioning at 
Annapolis, Hudner began a storied Navy career that would ultimately 
earn him our nation's highest military honor.
  During his first few years in the Navy, Hudner served as a 
communications officer aboard various warships before being accepted to 
the Navy's flight school in Corpus Christi, TX. After earning his 
``wings of gold,'' Hudner became one of the ``Fighting Swordsmen'' of 
Strike Fighter Squadron 32 (VF 32) aboard the aircraft carrier USS 
Leyte. Just a few years after the racial integration of the US 
military, Hudner began flying with a young ensign named Jesse LeRoy 
Brown, the Navy's first black pilot. Brown was born and raised in the 
segregated deep south town of Hattiesburg, MS, a world away from 
Hudner's upper middle class home in Fall River and the fields of 
Hudner's alma mater Philips Exeter Academy.
  The relative calm of post-war life as a Naval Aviator aboard the 
Mediterranean-based USS Leyte would not last long. In the summer of 
1950, less than a year after Hudner's flight certification, North 
Korean Communist forces invaded the Republic of Korea. Within months, 
President Truman would order the Leyte into action off the coast of 
Korea where Hudner and his wingman, Jesse Brown, immediately began 
flying reconnaissance and attack sorties against Communist positions. 
Not long after VF 32 joined the fight, China invaded and threatened to 
overrun US positions.
  There are no routine missions in wartime, especially when flying 
close air support over enemy positions. Such was the case on the 
afternoon of December 4, 1950 when Hudner and Brown were on a mission 
to destroy enemy targets near the Chosin Reservoir. About an hour into 
the mission, Brown's Corsair was hit by enemy fire, began to lose fuel 
and he was forced to crash land his aircraft into a snowy mountainside.
  The events that transpired over the next few hours became enshrined 
in the history of American Naval Aviation.
  Despite exposure to hostile ground fire, Hudner continued to make low 
passes over Brown, who was trapped in the wreckage of his destroyed 
aircraft. And, when Hudner saw that his wingman's plane was burning, he 
deliberately crash-landed his own aircraft and though injured in the 
violent landing, ran to Brown's rescue. You see for Hudner, never 
leaving one's wingman was more than a guideline, it was a covenant. 
Hudner, later a rescue helicopter pilot, tried in vain to free Brown 
from the wreckage. With night falling and Ensign Brown lapsing in and 
out of consciousness, Hudner was finally forced to evacuate the bitter 
cold crash site. Brown's final words to Hudner were to tell his wife, 
Daisy, that he loved her. He would have the chance to do just that in 
person. On April 13, 1951, Daisy Pearl Brown was in the audience when 
President Harry S. Truman presented Thomas J. Hudner, Jr. with the 
Medal of Honor for his heroic attempt to save Ensign Brown.
  Over the next two decades, Hudner would continue to serve with 
distinction in the United States Navy. In addition to flying many of 
the Navy's newest jet fighters, Hudner's career would take him from 
various ships and air bases where he served in positions of increasing 
responsibility, including as executive officer of the USS Kitty Hawk 
during the Vietnam War.
  Hudner and Daisy Pearl Thorne, she had since remarried, remained 
friends, their lives intertwined by the events decades earlier on a 
snowy mountainside on the other side of the globe. In fact, the two 
friends would be together at another ceremony some 22 years later when 
the US Navy commissioned the first American warship in honor of an 
African American, the USS Jesse L. Brown.
  Hudner retired from the US Navy at the rank of captain in 1973, and 
while his day-to-day service in the Navy would end, this American hero 
would continue to serve his fellow veterans through the USO and a 
variety of veterans' organizations. For most of the 1990s, Hudner 
served with distinction as Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department 
of Veterans Affairs.
  In closing, I will quote Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus:

       Thomas Hudner exemplifies the core values of honor, courage 
     and commitment the Navy holds dear. Naming the Navy's next 
     DDG for him will ensure his legacy will be known, honored and 
     emulated by future generations of sailors and Marines who 
     serve and all who come in contact with this ship.

  I thank Captain Hudner for his lifetime of exceptional service to our 
nation and his dedication to his fellow veterans and wish him and his 
wife Georgia all the very best in the years ahead.

                          ____________________