![\"Portrait](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/a\/a7\/Leo_K_Thorsness.jpg\/960px-Leo_K_Thorsness.jpg\")
\nLt Col, U.S. Air Force \u2014 Vietnam War<\/strong><\/p>\n Leo K. Thorsness was born on February 14, 1932, in Walnut Grove, Minnesota. An Eagle Scout, he earned his commission in the Air Force and became a fighter pilot, flying the F-105 Thunderchief with the 357th Tactical Fighter Squadron on Wild Weasel missions \u2014 the dangerous work of suppressing enemy surface-to-air missile sites over North Vietnam.<\/p>\n On April 19, 1967, then-Major Thorsness and his electronic warfare officer, Captain Harold Johnson, led a Wild Weasel flight that silenced one SAM site with missiles and destroyed a second with bombs. When his wingman was shot down, Thorsness circled the parachutes to relay the crew’s position, then \u2014 though the F-105 was no dogfighter \u2014 shot down a MiG-17 with cannon fire. Learning that rescue helicopters were threatened by four more MiGs, he returned through heavy defenses, damaged one and drove the others off, then gave up his own refueling slot to a critically low-fuel friendly aircraft and glided his fuel-empty jet into Udorn, Thailand, landing mid-runway.<\/p>\n Eleven days later, on his 93rd mission, Thorsness was shot down and spent nearly six years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, including a year in solitary confinement under torture. His Medal of Honor had been approved during his captivity but kept secret to protect him; President Nixon presented it on October 15, 1973, after his release. He retired as a colonel, served in the Washington State Senate (1989\u20131993), led the Congressional Medal of Honor Society as its president, and wrote Surviving Hell: A POW’s Journey<\/em> (2008). He died on May 2, 2017, in St. Augustine, Florida, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.<\/p>\n Sources: Wikipedia<\/a> \u00b7 Congressional Medal of Honor Society<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n