Memorial Day Issue - MOH, ISV-U, SDIT, and who was Major William E. Cordero?
Memorial Day Issue
Let’s start with the Medal of Honor Foundation, which serves three main roles:
Education and Character Development - Its flagship initiative, the Medal of Honor Character Development Program, provides free curriculum to educators to help students learn about leadership, ethical decision-making, and service.
It runs programs (especially in schools) that teach the values embodied by Medal of Honor recipients.
Preservation of Legacy - It helps document and share the stories of Medal of Honor recipients.
By doing so, it ensures their actions—and the principles behind them—are remembered and passed down to future generations.
Support for the Medal of Honor Community
The Foundation helps fund the Medal of Honor Museum and supports activities tied to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society (the group of living recipients).
It also contributes to events, outreach, and initiatives that connect recipients with the public.
In April, GM Defense, the defense contractor arm of General Motors, donated a special ISV-U, military speak for Infantry Squad Vehicle – Utility, for auction by Barrett-Jackson, an automobile auction firm.
It was the first vehicle offered to the public for public road use.
The winning bid was $1,000,000 with no auction fees.
In a fact related to Memorial Day, about one in five MOH recipients received the award posthumously, roughly 600 soldiers.
There have been 3,536 recipients, of which 64 are still living.
Who was Major William E. Cordero?
Major Cordero was a navigator on a B-57 Canberra when he reported to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines in November 1963 for his second tour.
His wife and four children joined him in 1964 from California. For the next year, he continued to fly missions out of Clark.
On Father’s Day weekend in 1965, Major Cordero was on a night mission with another B-57 and C-130 when his aircraft disappeared. He was listed Missing In Action, or MIA.
He was six weeks away from being sent stateside and 29 years old.
His wife was pregnant with their fifth child and also 29 years old.
He was MIA until 1969 when that changed to KIA. Killed In Action.
He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in May 1969.
But that is not the end of the story.
You may recall, Major Cordero and his wife had five children. Child #3, the middle child, is Anthony Cordero. He was four years old at the time of his dad's disappearance, and 8 years old at the time of his funeral.
He wore his Cub Scout uniform at the service; something inside of him just told him that he should be in uniform.
Fast forward about 20 years, and Tony realizes that he is about to become as old as his dad was when he died. What the hell would that be like? He started asking around and connected with a woman at the Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Her daughter was born after her husband had died on a mission in Vietnam.
One thing led to another, and on Father’s Day, 1989, Maria Shriver did a story on three kids whose dads died in Vietnam and were now coming of age. Parade Magazine picked it up (Boomer alert), and the next thing Tony knows is they have 1500 pieces of mail from other kids of Vietnam War soldiers who had identical stories.
From this was founded Sons and Daughters in Touch.
There are 20,000 children whose fathers died during the Vietnam War.
Sons and Daughters in Touch have helped 5000 of them connect with each other.
On this Memorial Day, we remember the 1,100,000 United States soldiers who have died on the field of battle while serving in the Armed Forces; each of them has a family story like Major Cordero. Traditionally, we pause for a moment of silence at 1500 hours. When you do, not only should you ponder the sacrifice that these soldiers made, but also the families that suffered that sacrifice.
Odds are very good that you know a family with a member enlisted in the Armed Forces, so maybe you can take a minute to send a text, an email, or even a phone call to connect and thank them for their service.
They’ll appreciate it.
May God bless all of our service men and women.
