Our monthly Roll Call Luncheon was held at Birchman Baptist Church again in Fort Worth on August 26th. We had two amazing speakers this month. President and CEO of the National Medal of Honor Museum, as well as former U.S. Navy SEAL and astronaut, Chris Cassidy, and Medal of Honor recipient Major General Patrick Brady.
Chris Cassidy
Chris served as a Navy SEAL for 10 years. He spe-cialized in long range special reconnaissance (vehicular and foot patrols), direct action building assaults, non-compliant ship-boardings, desert re-connaissance patrols, combat diving, underwater explosives, and a variety of air operations. In May 2004, he was selected as an astronaut candidate and completed training in February 2006. Chris went on his first Space Shuttle mission in July 2009. All told, he served over 377 days in space by his re-tirement in May 2021. Today, Chris serves as the President and CEO of the National Medal of Honor Museum.
Major General Patrick Brady
Major General Patrick Brady, US Army, ret.
Gen Brady was awarded the Medal of Honor for his service as a “Dustoff” medevac helicopter pilot dur-ing the Vietnam War. (See entire citation below). He served a total of 34 years in the US Army. This included two combat tours in Vietnam with the 54th and 57th Medical Detachments. He flew over 2,000 combat missions and rescued an estimated 5,000 soldiers and civilians. He is one of two Vi-etnam soldiers to earn both the Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross (he has 2). His other awards include the Distinguished Flying Cross (6), Bronze Star (2), Distinguished Service Medal (2), Purple Heart, and 53 Air Medals.
Citation to Accompany the Award of the Medal of Honor
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty, Maj. BRADY distinguished himself while serving in the Republic of Vietnam commanding a UH-1H ambulance helicopter, volunteered to rescue wounded men from a site in enemy held territory which was reported to be heavily defended and to be blanketed by fog. To reach the site he descended through heavy fog and smoke and hovered slowly along a valley trail, turning his ship sideward to blow away the fog with the backwash from his rotor blades. Despite the unchallenged, close-range enemy fire, he found the dangerously small site, where he successfully landed and evacuated 2 badly wounded South Vietnamese soldiers. He was then called to another area completely covered by dense fog where American casualties lay only 50 meters from the enemy. Two aircraft had previously been shot down and others had made unsuccessful attempts to reach this site earlier in the day. With unmatched skill and extraordinary courage, Maj. BRADY made 4 flights to this embattled landing zone and successfully rescued all the wounded. On his third mission of the day Maj. Brady once again landed at a site surrounded by the enemy. The friendly ground force, pinned down by enemy fire, had been unable to reach and secure the landing zone. Although his aircraft had been badly damaged and his controls partially shot away during his initial entry into this area, he returned minutes later and rescued the remaining injured. Shortly thereafter, obtaining a replacement aircraft, Maj. BRADY was requested to land in an enemy minefield where a platoon of American soldiers was trapped. A mine detonated near his helicopter, wounding 2 crew members and damaging his ship. In spite of this, he managed to fly 6 severely injured patients to medical aid. Throughout that day Maj. BRADY utilized 3 helicopters to evacuate a total of 51 seriously wounded men, many of whom would have perished without prompt medical treatment. Maj. BRADY’S bravery was in the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself and the U.S. Army.
PRESERVING THE HISTORY OF OUR LOCAL VETERANS
All stories matter! That is why we would love for you to share your personal story of service with us. Just a quick page or two with your personal story/experience, as much or as little as you are willing to share. We want your pictures too, we want to fill the walls of the museum with pictures of our veterans. Any pictures you would be willing to share with us just send with a description of where and when it took place. If you only have hard copies you can bring them to the luncheon too. We will scan them into a computer and bring them back to you the next luncheon. Help us share the history that is being lost and educate the community and younger generations. Send it to us in an e-mail (info@roll-call.org), mail it to us (P.O. Box 35052, Fort Worth, TX 76162) or just bring it to us at the next luncheon.
NEW BENEFIT FOR ROLL CALL MEMBERS – FINAL CALL
Roll Call realizes that dealing with the death of a loved one can be a difficult, and sometimes expensive, process. We are now offering our members the capability of publishing an obituary on our website at no cost to them. If you would like more information about this process you can reach out to us at info@roll-call.org.
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