Medal of Honor Recipient Thomas J. Hudner, Jr., Passes Away at 93

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C., Nov. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Congressional Medal of Honor Society announces that Captain Thomas J. Hudner, Jr., Medal of Honor recipient, passed away Monday morning, November 13, 2017, in Concord, Massachusetts, at the age of 93.

Thomas J. Hudner, Jr., a native of Fall River, Massachusetts, is a retired U.S. Navy Captain and a veteran of both the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Throughout his 27-year career in the U.S. Navy, he was in aviation-related assignments, nine years of which were in aircraft carriers or carrier-based squadrons. His last assignment was in the Pentagon with the Joint Chiefs of Staff after which he retired from active duty in 1973.

In the Korean War, he was attached to Fighter Squadron 32 based on board USS Leyte operating In the Sea of Japan, and in the Vietnam War he was Navigator, then Executive Officer of the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk operating in the Gulf of Tonkin. It was for the attempted rescue of a squad mate shot down behind enemy lines on December 4, 1950, during the historic battle near the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea that he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

He is a graduate of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, the U. S. Naval Academy, and the Air War College. He received his Masters degree in International Affairs from George Washington University.

He was appointed Commissioner of Veterans Services of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in February of 1991 by Governor William F. Weld.

Thomas J. Hudner, Jr., is survived by his wife Georgea and family. Funeral services are pending. There are 72 recipients alive today.

About the Congressional Medal of Honor Society
The Congressional Medal of Honor Society was chartered by Congress in 1958 and consists exclusively of the living recipients of our nation's highest award for bravery in combat, the Medal of Honor. Those who wear this light blue ribbon and Medal around their neck are "recipients" of this prestigious award; they are not "winners." Although it is common to refer to the Medal as the Congressional Medal of Honor, it is simply named the Medal of Honor, although, as stated, the Congress did establish the Society as the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

Contact: Victoria Kueck
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SOURCE Congressional Medal of Honor Society