Bernice Schaffe holds a case of military medals and ribbons awarded in honor of her brother, Frank Mebs, at a ceremony Monday at the Jesse Soby American Legion Post #148 in Langhorne.Frank Mebs died more than 50 years ago on a burning hilltop in Vietnam. His heroic death saved hundreds of others.
Kilde, 83, who drove from his home in Missouri for the Memorial Day event, had been tasked with retrieving Mebs’ body from the wreckage that day more than half a century ago. After being diagnosed with PTSD in 2014, he had made it his mission to secure Mebs’ his forgotten honors — a mission that would end only after he successfully lobbied President
Hours earlier, Firebase Veghel artillery crews had fired two mortar rounds toward suspected enemy movement. One round fell short, striking the ammo dump. Mebs, who had dropped out of Council Rock High School in 1966 to enlist and was just two weeks away from finishing his tour, hopped onto his bulldozer.
For many years, Mebs’ family knew little about how Frank actually died. Originally, they had been told only that he had been killed in an accident, said his sister Bernice Schaffer. It wasn’t 2000, when a soldier who credited his life to Frank’s heroism sought out the family, that they learned the full story.As part of his PTSD treatment, Kilde told a doctor in 2014 about the incident he was never able to shake: the day Frank Mebs saved all those lives. And how it had mostly gone forgotten.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: 6abc - 🏆 250. / 63 Read more »
Source: NBCPhiladelphia - 🏆 569. / 51 Read more »
Source: 6abc - 🏆 250. / 63 Read more »
Source: 6abc - 🏆 250. / 63 Read more »
Source: 6abc - 🏆 250. / 63 Read more »
Source: FOX29philly - 🏆 570. / 51 Read more »