Contact: Maridith Geuder
A Nov. 8 military ceremony at Mississippi State will honor the memory of a history-making Mississippian and the Massachusetts-born officer who received the Medal of Honor for trying to rescue him during the Korean War.
Titled "Mississippi Military Firsts," the university's second Salute to the Military is co-sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Starkville Area Chamber of Commerce.
The 2001 program spotlights retired Navy Capt. Thomas J. Hudner Jr. of Concord, Mass., whose efforts in 1950 to save Ensign Jesse L. Brown earned him the United States' highest military honor. He was the Navy's first Medal of Honor winner in what has come to be called "America's forgotten war."
Brown will be recognized for his 1948 achievement as the first black to receive the gold wings of a United States Navy pilot. The former Hattiesburg resident sustained fatal injuries in the crash of his F4U-4 Corsair during vicious fighting near the Chosin Reservoir.
Hudner is keynote speaker for the 4:30 p.m. public program in the McComas Hall theater. Brown's widow, Daisy Brown Thorne of Hattiesburg, will be in attendance.
Following Hudner's remarks, Larry Box, superintendent of the Starkville Public School District, will award high school diplomas to local veterans who were unable to graduate because of Korean wartime duties.
Prior to the program, a tree dedication and retreat ceremony will be held at 3:30 p.m. on the MSU Drill Field.
The Starkville Chamber of Commerce is among more than 5,000 worldwide "partners" in a three-year United States Department of Defense program begun last year to commemorate the Korean War's 50th anniversary. Lt. Col. Logan Hickman, head of Army ROTC at MSU, chairs the chamber's military affairs committee.
For more information about the 2001 Salute to the Military, telephone Capt. Mike Smith at (662) 325-3503.