PIGEON FORGE, TN – Each of you is a hero,” Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Michael Thornton told members of a Vietnam Veterans organization Saturday night in a Pigeon Forge Reunion of the Tan Son Nhut Association.

In a speech to fellow Vietnam Veterans, Thornton, a retired Navy Lieutenant, outlined the details of the incident which led to the award of the MOH. The Reunion tool place just a few days shy of the 37th anniversary of the war incident, which occurred on Oct. 31, 1972.

The award of the MOH to Lt. Thornton is unique for two reasons. First, Lt. Thornton was the last man to be awarded the MOH for action in Vietnam. And in the incident, the Navy SEAL saved the life of another Medal of Honor winner, Navy SEAL Tom Norris, something that has not happened in U.S. military history in more than 100 years.

In his speech to the Veterans, Thornton described Norris, who was his superior officer in the Navy, as “my best friend.”

Norris was serious about this description of Norris, who was severely wounded in the attack near the demilitarized zone separating the two Vietnams, and his actions just before the award ceremony in the White House shows just how serious he was.

Under heavy enemy fire, Thornton carried Norris and another South Vietnamese Navy man to safety. Thornton had originally been told on that beach, where he, Norris, and three South Vietnamese Navy men were under heavy enemy fire, that Norris was dead. But when he got to his commanding officer’s side, he found that was not true.

Thornton said an incoming shell exploded near them on the beach as Thornton tried to move Norris, and Norris looked up at him and whispered, “Mike, Buddy.”

So, Thornton carried his buddy into the water where the five members of the team stayed afloat for more than two hours, waiting for the U.S. Navy to pick them up.

Once aboard the USS Newport News, Thornton was told again by doctors, “He’ll (Norris) never live.” But Norris did … after numerous surgeries and lengthy hospitalization.

And even though Norris was still hospitalized and still under treatment in Maryland when it came time for Richard Nixon to award the MOH to Thornton in 1973, Norris was present for that ceremony.

How did that happen? Thornton told the Vietnam Vets that he “kidnapped” his buddy from his hospital bed so that he could be at the White House ceremony.

While Thornton was put “on report” by the Surgeon General, and while everyone was wondering where Norris was (after all, he wasn’t in his hospital bed where the doctors said he should be), he showed up on television, standing in the White House behind the man who had saved his life on that beach near the DMZ in Vietnam.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” Lt. Thornton said President Nixon asked him.

“Yes,” the Lieutenant replied. “I wish you could cut this medal in half and give it to the man standing there behind me.” Norris received his Congressional Medal of Honor in 1976 from President Gerald Ford. It was awarded for saving the life of two downed pilots in enemy territory.

Thornton is driven, and he got that determination, he said, from his home life. The South Carolina native grew up with parents who taught him how to live right.

His father, he said, “…taught me how to be a man.”

After all, it was his father – a man with only a sixth grade education – who joined the Army and sent home every pay check so his father’s sisters could go to college.

Thornton said it was that kind of “love, respect, and honor” from his father and mother that set the stage for his own life. That determination he needed to be successful, he said, started at home.

Members of the Junior ROTC unit from Bearden High School in Knoxville not only presented the colors at the banquet, but also each personally met the Navy SEAL hero. Each member of the guard had a picture taken with Lt. Thornton, and each was presented with a special certificate of appreciation from the TSNA. The Junior ROTC unit is advised by Navy CPO (retired) Randy Dixon and National Guard SSgt Malcolm Campbell.

The Tan Son Nhut Association was incorporated in October 1995 to perpetuate the history of Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, especially as it existed from 1959 to 1975, to recognize and honor those who served at Tan Son Nhut during that period of its history, and, to conduct benevolent, cultural, educational and social programs of benefit to the Association’s members, as well as others. Membership in the organization is open to any Veteran of any branch of service who served at Tan Son Nhut Air Base during the Vietnam War.

During this year’s Reunion, the TSNA Board of Directors voted to establish a scholarship for high school and college students who study the Vietnam War or its effects.

—Richard Carvell