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10 VETERANS Reporter News www.VeteransReporterNews.com January 15 %u2022 2025WORLD MARKET CENTERSHOWROOM BUY-OUT$1,000,000of ONE-OF-A-KIND SHOWROOM SAMPLES!for Pennies on the Dollar!Walker Furniture%u2019s Exclusive Million Dollar World Market Showroom Buyout SaleFeaturing ASHLEY, FLEXSTEEL, KINCAID, COASTER, and MORE!Twice a year, Downtown Las Vegas becomes the epicenter of the furniture industry at the World Market Center. This Trade-only, internationally renowned event showcases top manufacturers like Ashley, Norwalk, Global Views, Aspen Home, Flexsteel and more.Walker Furniture leveraged this opportunity to acquire $1 million worth of brand-new showroom collections. These exclusive, one-of-a-kind pieces%u2014from the World Market Center showrooms%u2014are now available to you at a fraction of their value.2 SUPERSTORE LOCATIONS301 S. MARTIN LUTHER KING BLVD. LAS VEGAS, NV 89106 671 MARKS ST. HENDERSON, NV 89014MON. - SAT. 10AM-8PM | SUN. 10AM-6PM | 702.384.9300VISIT US AT WALKERFURNITURE.COM80%+OFFSave Up To%u2022 Sofas starting at $197 %u2022 Queen beds from $97 %u2022 Dining sets from $167%u2022 Home Furnishings starting as low as $57World Market Center is not a sponsor, partner, or affiliated with this promotion. *See store for complete details. Top Ace Honored by China Post 1 Member%u25a0In January 1953, Lt. Joseph McConnell, Jr., was an unknown F-86 Sabre pilot in the 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing in Korea. Five months later, McConnell had shot down 16 Communist MiG-15 jets, making him a national hero as the highest-scoring jet ace in U.S. history%u2014a record that stands today.President Eisenhower congratulated him in the Oval Offi ce. Fans hailed him at Boston%u2019s Fenway Park. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor. Warner Bros. made a feature fi lm on his life, %u201cThe McConnell Story,%u201d starring Alan Ladd and June Allyson.Yet in McConnell%u2019s adopted hometown of Apple Valley, Calif., there has never been a school, street, park, or even a park bench named for America%u2019s top jet ace%u2014until now. In October 2024, Apple Valley broke ground on a 10-acre sports complex, including football, baseball, and soccer fi elds, plus a playground with an aviation theme, a dog park, and a veterans monument.Don Holland, a member of the Sons of the American Legion, China Post 1 in Las Vegas, has worked since 2019 to restore the memory and legacy of McConnell. He successfully advocated for a museum display honoring McConnell, developed banners on McConnell for schools, and created a Facebook page with photos, newsreel footage, and historical research. Now Holland is nearing completion of the only biography on the triple ace.%u201cI am proud to be a member of the Sons of the Legion, China Post 1,%u201d said Holland, whose father was a Marine Corps dive bomber pilot in World War II and Korea. %u201cMcConnell came from nothing but was incredibly determined and courageous%u2014he once took on 28 MiGs. He overcame countless hurdles throughout his life to achieve greatness. Yet he remained a modest man. He%u2019s been gone for 70 years, but we can still learn a lot from Capt. McConnell%u2019s example.%u201dThe Navy%u2019s New Destroyer Is Named for the First SEAL to Receive the Medal of Honor%u25a0 A L China Post 1 LV Joseph Robert Kerrey is, for the most part, a model American. He led a distinguished career in both national politics and in his home state of Nebraska. The one-time presidential candidate served on the 9/11 Commission, spent two terms representing his state in the U.S. Senate and was the 35th governor of Nebraska. Before he did all of that, however, he was leading Navy SEALs into combat during the Vietnam War.Like many SEALs, Kerrey was called on to do what might have been otherwise impossible, such as conduct daring raids on Vietnamese coastal cities to capture high-ranking enemy personnel for intelligence. It was on one of these raids, in the city of Nha Trang in 1969, where he fought until he nearly passed out from blood loss. His subsequent 1970 Medal of Honor for his %u201ccourageous and inspiring leadership, valiant fi ghting spirit, and tenacious devotion to duty in the face of almost overwhelming opposition%u201d marked the fi rst time the medal was ever awarded to a SEAL.It%u2019s no wonder that the Navy%u2019s newest Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer was named the USS Robert Kerrey in his honor, as Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro announced on Jan. 4, 2025.%u201cThis will be the fi rst Navy vessel named in his honor, and it is most appropriate we do so, for his actions in Vietnam and his continued service to this country well beyond his Naval service,%u201d Del Toro said in a statement.Kerrey was a Nebraska-born military brat, but his family planted deep roots there. His father, James, was a World War II veteran of the Army Air Forces. During the war, he was sent to Lincoln, Nebraska, and the family stayed put when the war ended. Bob was an active child, participating in the Boy Scouts and playing high school football. He attended the University of Nebraska to study pharmacy and became a pharmacist upon graduating in 1965. It wasn%u2019t long before he received a notice to get a physical, and, assuming he might be drafted, joined the Navy.American intervention in South Vietnam was beginning to heat up as Kerrey entered Offi cer Candidate School. By the time he graduated in 1968, the United States was committed to keeping the country from falling to communism. Kerrey decided he wanted to join the Navy SEALs, then a nascent special operations force. He soon found himself in Vietnam as one of two offi cers leading 12 enlisted sailors in SEAL Team 1.Three months after Kerrey%u2019s arrival in South Vietnam in January 1969, his team was tasked with capturing important North Vietnamese political leaders. This meant making amphibious landings in enemy-held territory, fi nding and subduing their targets and making a clean getaway without losing their captives -- and hopefully any of their sailors -- to enemy fi re. It was not an easy task, but it would be one Navy SEALs were uniquely qualifi ed to accomplish.In March 1969, Kerrey%u2019s team received information from a North Vietnamese defector that the communist forces had set up an important base on the island of Nha Trang and was willing to lead the team to the island. On March 14, the SEAL team set out for the base under the cover of the early-morning darkness. It was divided into two elements, with the fi rst landing on the front of the island while Kerrey led another team up a 350-foot-high sea cliff in the rear. The goal was to surprise the enemy by taking a high ledge above its position. But no sooner had they scaled the