Medal of Honor recipient, Hanscom officers to speak at Heritage of Freedom Jan. 23

  • Published
  • By Kevin Gilmartin
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  Two Hanscom officers will share their deployment experiences and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Thomas J. Hudner, a retired U.S. Navy captain, will recount his Korean War heroics during the second Heritage of Freedom Speaker Series Jan. 23 at 4 p.m. in the Minuteman Club Ballroom. 

The Heritage of Freedom Speaker Series is a free event, held quarterly, featuring three speakers, each of whom discuss their experiences serving in combat or while deployed. Their hard-hitting 15 minute presentations are followed by short question and answer periods. The event is informal and features free refreshments available throughout the discussions. Attendees are encouraged to remain after the addresses and talk informally with the speakers. 

Lt. Col. Denise Irizarry, 66th Medical Support Squadron commander, will discuss the operational side of health care based on her experiences as a Critical Core Air Transport Team nurse from Aug. 2005 to March 2006. The CCATT is a three-person, highly specialized medical asset that can create and operate a portable intensive care unit on board any transport aircraft during flight. Based out of Ramstein Air Base, Germany during her assignment, the colonel flew more than 400 patient care missions, logging 100 combat hours and 19 combat sorties. For her service, she earned the Aerial Achievement Medal. 

Capt. Louis Duncan, Joint Precision Air Drop System program manager in the 951st Electronic Systems Group, will discuss his experiences while deployed to Iraq. Captain Duncan trained and mentored Operation Iraqi Freedom Special Forces while deployed. During that time, he led nine Special Operations Forces air planners as chief of an Integrated Air Team and resident air support expert, executing 1,544 sorties, including 216 with fire support, leading to the capture of 150 insurgents and the killing in action of 210 enemy combatants. 

Captain Hudner earned the Medal of Honor as a lieutenant junior grade in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, piloting an F4U Corsair aircraft. On Dec. 4 1950, Lt. Hudner crash-landed his own plane near the Chosin reservoir in an effort to rescue his wingman whose own F4U-4 Corsair had been shot down. His was the first Medal of Honor awarded for service in the Korean War. 

Refreshments will be served beginning at 3:30 p.m.