Special to WorldTribune.com

By John McNabb, May 25, 2025

Walk with me through the white stone fields of Crosses and Stars of David in American military cemeteries located in Arlington, Virginia; Omaha Beach, Normandy; the Punch Bowl, Hawaii; Florence, Italy, and many, many other honorable resting places worldwide, and I will show you the domain of real American heroes. The cost of our freedom was very high for these young Americans over the two centuries of our nation’s existence. — From A Nice Ride, Stories of America, by John McNabb

Every Memorial Day, I am reunited in heart with friends, colleagues and squadron mates who are not with us today. The day seems to come faster with each passing year.

What strikes me today in 2025, is simply how young they were. Each was in his prime with all the experiences, lessons and joys of life to look forward to.

At Arlington National Cemetery with Marine Second Lt. Drew James Barrett III. / John McNabb

Their young lives were taken in the spring of innocent youth. Today I bid them all a beautiful sleep through eternity. They have earned that. Every year this is the hardest time for me.

On April 4, 2025. I went to Arlington National Cemetery to visit a great friend, fraternity brother, Duke Football teammate and true American hero, Marine Second Lt. Drew James Barrett III.

What an interesting young man who still stands out in memory. We all called him “DJ”. Always with a big smile. He was tough as nails. His dad was born in Logan, West Virginia and was a Marine Corps Colonel who was an instructor at the United States War College. DJ had an amazing game under the lights at Carolina Stadium against the South Carolina Gamecocks. It was a big win for the Blue Devils. DJ Barrett had 13 tackles that night out of his cornerback position. He was a fraternity brother of mine and simply a great human being.

His dad pinned on DJ’s gold Second Lieutenant bars. He was a Platoon Leader in I Corps of Northernmost South Vietnam. His platoon was ambushed near the An Hoa Combat Base and DJ was very badly wounded in a firefight. He hung to life and fought his terrible injuries but passed away at the military hospital at Danang Air Base about twenty-five kilometers from An Hoa. Drew James Barrett III had a wonderful spirit about him and was a born leader. A hero among heroes. My great friend rest in eternal bliss. You earned it.

Second Lieutenant DJ Barrett with his father a Marine Corps colonel beside the Marine Corps Monument adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery where DJ now rests with his fellow American heroes.

Another Duke fraternity brother was WC Clay III from Henderson, North Carolina. WC was a student leader, solid and thoughtful. He was a Marine fighter pilot and was lost on a bombing run over the western South Vietnam mountains. I always looked up to WC as a mentor. He was a quiet and confident young man just like my other Duke heroes. Rest well my great friend in eternal bliss. You earned it. You are a hero among heroes.

I will never forget having breakfast with Dick Mallon at the Takhli RTAFB Officers Club at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 1970. That day, we were on the same mission, a “Wild Weasel” SAM suppression mission over Mu Gia Pass on the border of North Vietnam and Laos. The story, too long to recount here, is on pages 98-103 in my book which concluded:

If you were shot down in Laos and unable to be rescued, you were basically dead. Dick and his back seater didn’t come out. His memorial is in Arlington. He and I never had our lunch together that day. I think about Dick Mallon and that day in 1970 frequently; it’s impossible not to.

Inspired by such friends and colleagues and my own blessed life experiences, I wrote “A Nice Ride, Stories of America” in which I lamented that the very forces we had fought against abroad in uniform now confronts our beloved homeland:

The focus on eradicating our nation’s history, burning down our places of worship and buildings of historical significance, destroying our statues and monuments, and protesting against our flag and our national anthem is not accidental. It comes right out of the Marxist playbook. The violent Left in America wants to destroy our democracy and replace it with a socialist, bureaucratic dictatorship called communism. Erasing our nation’s history is the first step down a well-funded and well-designed path of destroying America. The communist alternative has proven to be a failed promise worldwide. …

Freedom isn’t free.  And it wasn’t won and maintained by young folks playing “games” who disrespect our flag and our national anthem. America’s real heroes are on guard every hour of every day around the world, in the air, on land, and across the seas.

In 1973, approximately 80% of the members of Congress were military veterans; Last year that number was about 17%.  Am I alone in seeing a trend in our political class? From an emphasis on serving our country to a self-serving club of elites?

On Memorial Day, 2025, we honor leadership by example. Again, as I wrote in “A Nice Ride”:

Leadership is personal, and leadership has consequences. The signers of our Declaration of Independence all had death sentences placed on them by the British. Abraham Lincoln, one of the founders of the Republican Party in 1854, was assassinated by a segregationist stage actor celebrity who was a member of the forerunner of the Democrat Party after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, which freed all slaves in America. Many men and women have lost their lives assuming leadership in protecting our nation at home and abroad. The sacrifice of many has made our nation great.

I grew up in the mountains of southern West Virginia. Coal mine country. One of my many heroes is Joe Green.  A nice young man who walked out of an assembly at Stonewall Jackson High School after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and became a fighter pilot flying combat missions over Nazi-occupied France. He was nineteen years old. He was almost shot down over France but somehow kept his aircraft in the air, crossed the English Channel and miraculously crash landed his P-47 high performance fighter aircraft “The Mountaineer” at Lands End, England. For that he was awarded The Purple Heart. He then flew sortee after sortee on the “Day of Days”, June 6, 1944. D-Day.

As fate would have it, my second cousin Joe Green would not see the end of World War II. I have pictures with him holding me as an infant, but I didn’t know him. My mother was very close to her cousin Joe Green.  He has always been a role model for me. Just the thought of him, his love of country, his heroism and sacrifice.

Joe Green at 19 flew bombing interdiction runs against German military in Nazi occupied France. / John McNabb

I played some youth league baseball with a neighbor who lived two blocks from me. His name was Larry Martin. He was a quiet young man who was an Army Platoon Leader during the Vietnam Conflict and volunteered to survey a route of march in Northern South Vietnam. This was just west of Danang Air Base where my great friend Steve Brooks flew the F-4 Phantom jet fighter. While returning to his helicopter landing zone, Lt. Martin’s vehicle was ambushed by a command-detonated mine. First Lieutenant Platoon Leader Larry Raymond Martin succumbed to small arms fire. He was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, his third. He will always be a hero among heroes. Sacrifice needs to be remembered as we have those in our country today who want us to forget our brave history.

During my time in the U.S. Air Force, I was privileged to meet many courageous heroes. I am not a hero, just a guy who did his job and had some luck.

Thomas Wiley Norman, Jr.

After upgrade training at Shaw Air Force Base Sumter, South Carolina I was deployed to the 355th Tac Fighter Wing at Takhli Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand.  As required of all air crew, my first stop was Clark Air Force Base, Luzon Island, The Philippines for Escape and Evasion Training at the famous “College of Jungle Knowledge.” My roommate was a thoughtful, quiet young man named Capt. Thomas Wiley Norman, Jr. who was born in Roper, North Carolina. A great guy. Legendary New York Yankee pitcher Catfish Hunter called Tom Norman “the best left-handed pitcher around” while Tom was pitching for the East Carolina Pirates. He later flew 0-2 recon aircraft out of the “Green Hornets” based at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Saigon.

We talked when we could over several months.  Then I didn’t hear from him anymore. I soon learned why. He was shot down and perished. My new friend Tom Norman will always be a hero among heroes. Another American sacrifice at the expense of delusional politics.

This simply gets more difficult. I was lucky enough to have the first opportunity in my family to attend college. My blind luck was attending Duke University. I wasn’t recruited due to academics. I was a member of the Duke football team from 1962 through 1965. My experience on the “Methodist Flats” was amazing. Those four years saw our Blue Devils win two Atlantic Coast Conference championships and finish second once. My luck was to play with some bright and talented young men and play for many Hall of Fame coaches.

Charles Jerome Huneycutt, Jr (1943 – 1967) / Wikitree / CC-2.0

One of my teammates was Jerry Huneycutt, a fierce competitor from Lexington, North Carolina. He was a heckuva football player. His dad was a Methodist minister and Jerry was a devout Christian. I can still see him in his ROTC uniform on campus as we lived in the same quadrangle. His great smile belied his toughness. He flew the F-4 Phantom. He attacked Dong Hoi Air Base in southern North Vietnam just north of the border between the two Vietnams. He was over Dong Hoi on a bombing run in weather and at night, and Jerry Huneycutt was shot down by anti-aircraft fire. He was an MIA until after the peace accord when his remains were returned.

Dong Hoi was the southernmost North Vietnamese air base and it was continually bombed. It was also a graveyard of American aircraft. I saw it numerous times and always had Jerry on my mind. Jerry Huneycutt is a hero among heroes. Sleep well my great friend in eternal bliss. You earned it.

Now at 80 and in the fourth quarter of life, I salute great friends and Duke athletes who like me survived Vietnam through God’s grace. To name just a few: Steve Brooks, Dick Havens, Don Lonon, Bob O’Kennon and Jim Hysong. God bless you.

This Memorial Day, please remember our heroes. Not just the military members but our parents, teachers, clergy and others who nurtured us back in the day. They are all heroes who helped make us who we are today.

Say a prayer for our Great Country which is under attack from within. And remember our fallen heroes who have sacrificed all so that we can be free.

The Honorable John T. McNabb II is a contributor to WorldTribune, Chairman of the Free Press Foundation and a 2024 recipient of the Horatio Alger Award. He served two combat flying tours during the Vietnam Conflict and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with Three Oak Leaf Clusters and the Air Force Commendation Medal. Mr. McNabb co-founded the Trump Leadership Council and received a Presidential Appointment to serve on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Council (Board of Trustees). He is Emeritus Member of the Board of Visitors at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

  Memorial Day 2025: ‘Their young lives were taken in the spring of innocent youth’

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