Officials at Goodfellow AFB, Tex., on Friday will dedicate two buildings for housing visiting officers to retired Col. Bud Day and retired Col. Leo Thorsness, two of the five living Air Force Medal of Honor recipients. Day was assigned to Goodfellow in 1951 as the operations officer of the base’s flying training wing. In August 1967, his F-100F was shot down over North Vietnam and he spent more than five years as a POW. He received the MOH in March 1976 for personal bravery while held captive. Thorsness attended primary flight training at Goodfellow in 1953. Enemy fire brought down his F-105F in North Vietnam in April 1967; he spent six years as a POW. He received the MOH in October 1973 for his heroism in 1967. (Goodfellow report by Robert D. Martinez) (For more on Thorsness, read Full Day; for more on Day, see The Strength of Bud Day.)
The 301st Fighter Wing in Fort Worth, Texas, became the first standalone Reserve unit in the Air Force to get its own F-35s, welcoming the first fighter Nov. 5.