gray06 Nov-Dec 2009_Gray01_Jan-Feb 2005.qxd.qxd - Korean War ...

58
By Jim Hodges
It seems that Floyd
Newkirk has a story for
every occasion, and he
was happy to tell the one about
delivering four pints of paint for
the nose of a rocket being
launched into space.
“Remember that monkey that
was sent up?” Newkirk, a former
Marine machine gunner and
retired long-haul trucker, asked
Thursday while leading a group of
Korean War veterans touring
NASA Langley.
He was speaking of “Sam,”
who went aloft on a Little Joe
rocket from Wallops Island in
1959.
And on the story went.
Rudy Hernandez outside the
Hangar at NASA Langley: “I’m a
great believer in what you are
doing here.”
Across the Langley cafeteria,
A Man of Few Words
Endorses the Work
at Langley
Rudy Hernandez outside the Hangar at NASA Langley: “I’m a great
believer in what you are doing here.” Credit: NASA/Sean Smith
Rudy Hernandez said little. His
story is so fantastic that it bears
telling, but he has trouble getting
the words out. The gold medal he
wore on the blue ribbon around
his neck Thursday is probably a
good place to start.
The Medal of Honor is always
a good place to start.
Hernandez earned his in
action on May 31, 1951, near
Wantong-ni, Korea, when his platoon
with G Company, 187th
Airborne Regimental Combat
Team fell under withering fire on a
spot on a topographical map
called Hill 420. When its ammunition
was nearly depleted, the unit
withdrew, but Hernandez stayed,
continued to fire his M-1 rifle until
it jammed, then charged the
enemy position with a bayonet.
He killed six of the enemy with
that bayonet until falling, wounded
by enemy bayonets, bullets
and a grenade that ripped off part
of his helmet, skull and brain.
Thus began almost 12 years
of hospital care and rehabilitation,
then 17 years of work as a
Veterans Administration benefits
counselor to help others like himself.
Much of that work has been
done in Fayetteville, N.C., where
Hernandez, a native Californian,
now calls home.
“I wanted to stay in (the military)
20 years, but they kicked
me out,” Hernandez said haltingly,
but with ever-present good
humor that is the product of a wry
wit and work done to repair a bayonet
cut on his upper lip that has
it permanently affixed into a smile.
“They said I couldn’t talk.”
Speech is just one of the
things he had to relearn among
the skills he had acquired as a
child. His right arm provides
leverage, but little else. He has to
move it around with his left hand,
the one he has learned to write
with.
Swallowing was a re-acquired
skill, as was the ability to shake
his head to indicate no.
“You never realize how precious
each system of your body
is until you lose it and have to
work like the devil to get it back,”
Hernandez writes in a narrative of
his life since May 1, 1951.
He learned much of what happened
on Hill 420 in the White
House, when President Truman
awarded him the Medal of Honor
and the citation was read. There
is still pain, but it’s intermingled
with that of being 77 years old.
And there are reunions, like
that with about 70 Korean vets
and spouses, who toured
Langley’s National Transonic
Facility and the Hangar on
Thursday.
“We go someplace every
year,” said Newkirk, who lives in
Virginia Beach and suggested
Langley. “We like to see military
facilities and things that are on the
cutting edge, and NASA Langley
is on the cutting edge.”
And then he launched into a
story of hauling a trailer that
turned out to be part of a tracking
station for then-Mercury astronaut
John Glenn’s orbit of Earth in
Friendship 7 on Feb. 20, 1962.
Near day’s end, they gathered
on the tarmac outside the hangar
and listened to Bruce Fisher talk
about an OV-10 Bronco.
Hernandez hung back a bit, still
smiling. It was hard to hear with
F-22 Raptors from next door
screaming aloft.
He had been impressed by the
day and by what he had seen.
“I’m a great believer in what
you are doing here,” Hernandez
said, handing out a card with his
name and the insignia of the
Congressional Medal of Honor on
it.
He said it softly, as he says
everything, but to the listener, it
was a ringing endorsement.
NASA Langley Research Center
Managing Editor: Jim Hodges
Executive Editor and Responsible
NASA Official: H. Keith Henry
Editor and Curator: Denise
Lineberry
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article and
photo appeared originally in the
NASA Langley Researcher News
[VA]. It is reprinted here by permission.n
attendance were many
members from KWVA chapters
34, 294 and 300 and other veterans
organizations,n attendance
were many members from KWVA
chapters 34, 294 and 300 and
other veterans organizations,
November – December 2009
The Graybeards