WEBVTT - Courage is Contagious: Mike & Tommy 0:00:15.356 --> 0:00:20.796 Pushkin Hello. Hello. Before we get on with our show, 0:00:21.076 --> 0:00:23.596 I want you to know that your Pushkin Plus subscription 0:00:23.716 --> 0:00:27.476 grants you early access to Medal of Honor episodes one 0:00:27.516 --> 0:00:30.556 week before they were released to the public. That's one 0:00:30.596 --> 0:00:34.076 week of exclusive access. If you want to listen to 0:00:34.156 --> 0:00:37.836 more episodes a week before they're widely available, sign up 0:00:37.836 --> 0:00:41.956 for Pushkin Plus on Apple Podcasts or by visiting Pushkin, 0:00:42.316 --> 0:00:49.676 dot Fm, slash Plus. Now onto the episode. It was 0:00:49.716 --> 0:00:52.676 the fall of nineteen seventy two, the waning days of 0:00:52.676 --> 0:00:56.716 the Vietnam War. American troops have been sent home, leaving 0:00:56.716 --> 0:00:59.956 the South Vietnamese to keep fighting on their own. President 0:01:00.036 --> 0:01:02.796 Richard Nixon called this policy Vietnamization. 0:01:03.516 --> 0:01:07.716 We can continue our program of withdrawing American forces without 0:01:07.756 --> 0:01:12.076 detriment to our overall goal of ensuring South Vietnam's survival 0:01:12.076 --> 0:01:13.236 as an independent country. 0:01:14.196 --> 0:01:16.916 There were fewer than twenty Navy Seals left in the 0:01:16.956 --> 0:01:19.916 country by that point. They were there to quote unquote 0:01:20.076 --> 0:01:24.476 advise the South Vietnamese military. In reality, the seals were 0:01:24.556 --> 0:01:29.436 running missions at the front lines and sometimes dangerously behind them. 0:01:29.916 --> 0:01:33.436 On October thirtieth, Petty Officer Michael Thornton was about to 0:01:33.436 --> 0:01:37.596 set out on one of those missions. Thornton's hometown was Spartanburg, 0:01:37.676 --> 0:01:41.516 South Carolina. He was six foot two, thickly muscled, with 0:01:41.596 --> 0:01:44.716 a reputation for carrying twice the loads of ammunition as 0:01:44.756 --> 0:01:49.156 other guys alongside Burns, a cleft chin, and an elvis pout. 0:01:49.716 --> 0:01:53.956 His fellow seals called him the Mighty Thar. At seventeen, 0:01:54.236 --> 0:01:57.276 he had been given the choice between reform school and 0:01:57.356 --> 0:02:00.876 the military. He chose the military. With him that night 0:02:00.916 --> 0:02:05.556 in October was Lieutenant Thomas Norris. Tommy Norris was twenty eight, 0:02:05.676 --> 0:02:08.796 a seasoned officer. He cast a completely different shadow than 0:02:08.796 --> 0:02:12.676 Mike lah He was fine boned and wiry, five foot six, 0:02:12.916 --> 0:02:15.516 one hundred and twenty pounds, soaking wet. A high school 0:02:15.556 --> 0:02:20.156 wrestling champion back home in Maryland, his nickname was Nasty Norris. 0:02:20.836 --> 0:02:24.196 There was nobody tougher. The two seals knew each other, 0:02:24.396 --> 0:02:26.596 even though they'd never been on a mission together before. 0:02:26.916 --> 0:02:28.956 There were so few seals left that they all knew 0:02:28.996 --> 0:02:31.636 each other. When Tommy was asked to choose one other 0:02:31.676 --> 0:02:34.356 seal to accompany him on a scouting mission, he chose 0:02:34.396 --> 0:02:39.756 Mike the Mighty thor and Nasty Norris They were meant 0:02:39.756 --> 0:02:42.236 to investigate a naval base that had been taken just 0:02:42.276 --> 0:02:45.516 a few months earlier by the North Vietnamese Army during 0:02:45.516 --> 0:02:49.756 its relentless southward march. The Seals knew they were entering 0:02:49.836 --> 0:02:52.956 dangerous territory, so they planned to do their reconnaissance under 0:02:52.996 --> 0:02:56.676 cover of darkness. A Navy ship got them close than 0:02:56.716 --> 0:03:00.676 a dinghy closer, and finally, Tommy, Mike and three South 0:03:00.756 --> 0:03:03.876 Vietnamese Navy men dropped over the sides into the South 0:03:03.996 --> 0:03:10.036 China Sea and swam silently to shore. Everything that could go. 0:03:10.076 --> 0:03:12.156 Wrong was about to go wrong. 0:03:15.436 --> 0:03:18.316 I'm Malcolm Glawell and this is Medal of Honor Stories 0:03:18.396 --> 0:03:21.796 of Courage. The Medal of Honor is the highest military 0:03:21.836 --> 0:03:26.076 decoration in the United States, awarded for gallantry and bravery 0:03:26.156 --> 0:03:28.996 in combat at the risk of life, above and beyond 0:03:29.036 --> 0:03:32.356 the call of duty. The Medal of Honor was established 0:03:32.356 --> 0:03:35.596 in eighteen sixty one at the outset of the Civil War. 0:03:35.836 --> 0:03:39.076 There have been three thousand, five hundred and seventeen people 0:03:39.316 --> 0:03:43.996 awarded the medal. Since each candidate must be approved all 0:03:44.036 --> 0:03:46.676 the way up the chain of command, from the supervisory 0:03:46.676 --> 0:03:50.156 officer on the field to the highest office in our nation. 0:03:50.876 --> 0:03:53.556 It's not just approved by the Secretary of Defense, it 0:03:53.596 --> 0:03:57.636 has to be agreed to by the President. This show 0:03:57.956 --> 0:04:01.356 is about those heroes, what they did, what it meant, 0:04:01.836 --> 0:04:05.196 and what their stories tell us about the nature of courage. 0:04:06.516 --> 0:04:10.156 And this episode is about what happened on Halloween nineteen 0:04:10.236 --> 0:04:29.876 seventy two. It was one am the five soldiers reached 0:04:29.916 --> 0:04:33.116 the shore. They were looking for an enemy occupied naval 0:04:33.156 --> 0:04:37.796 base on the southernmost outskirts of North Vietnamese Territory, a 0:04:37.876 --> 0:04:40.636 place in the North Vietnamese Army they referred to them 0:04:40.636 --> 0:04:43.476 as the NVA would have just started to settle down 0:04:43.516 --> 0:04:48.916 in but something seemed off. From what they could tell 0:04:48.916 --> 0:04:53.236 in the moonlight, this was not some newly settled encampment. Later, 0:04:53.676 --> 0:04:56.716 Mike Thoughton would remember how he felt in that moment 0:04:57.276 --> 0:05:00.796 when he realized they'd been dropped off miles north of 0:05:00.836 --> 0:05:02.316 their intended target. 0:05:02.556 --> 0:05:03.796 We're walking through areas. 0:05:03.796 --> 0:05:05.636 It's been no way in hell they could have built 0:05:05.716 --> 0:05:08.436 all the stuff up in two months, so right then 0:05:08.476 --> 0:05:09.716 we knew we're way north. 0:05:10.396 --> 0:05:12.436 Listen to his tone, by the way, he sounds like 0:05:12.476 --> 0:05:14.916 he's describing how he went to the grocery store and 0:05:14.996 --> 0:05:17.996 realized he forgot his shopping list at home. Mike saw 0:05:18.116 --> 0:05:22.356 bunkers the size of hotel buildings, weapons, soldiers sleeping on 0:05:22.436 --> 0:05:25.036 mats on the ground. They'd been dropped on top of 0:05:25.076 --> 0:05:29.116 a major North Vietnamese Army installation. The seals crept along 0:05:29.156 --> 0:05:31.836 in a line, hunched over so as not to be spotted. 0:05:32.276 --> 0:05:35.756 Tommy was at the front, Mike was at the rear. 0:05:36.276 --> 0:05:39.796 Between them were the three South Vietnamese Navy men. Mike 0:05:39.836 --> 0:05:42.316 had gone on previous missions with two of them, Deng 0:05:42.436 --> 0:05:45.556 and Kwan, and hand picked them for that night. Both 0:05:45.596 --> 0:05:49.796 of them were confident, seasoned in combat, and unflappable in 0:05:49.836 --> 0:05:52.756 the face of danger. Mike liked and trusted them both. 0:05:53.676 --> 0:05:59.316 Third was a young and inexperienced officer, Lieutenant Tie. Mike 0:05:59.396 --> 0:06:01.836 kept creeping up to Tommy to check if Tommy was 0:06:01.836 --> 0:06:02.996 seeing what he was seeing. 0:06:03.676 --> 0:06:06.076 They had tanks and gun and placements. They had guys 0:06:06.076 --> 0:06:07.436 with big bonfire, so we. 0:06:07.476 --> 0:06:10.036 Knew they were afraid, you know, letting them know who 0:06:10.036 --> 0:06:13.436 they were. And I'm biting down as falls. I say, Tommy, 0:06:13.476 --> 0:06:16.356 you see this. Yeah. 0:06:16.436 --> 0:06:19.036 By the time they confirmed their suspicions, they were five 0:06:19.076 --> 0:06:21.316 miles from where they dropped in. It would be light 0:06:21.396 --> 0:06:23.836 soon there was no chance they could get back to 0:06:23.836 --> 0:06:27.276 see before daylight came, so Tommy decided that their best 0:06:27.276 --> 0:06:29.716 hope for survival would be to return to the beach, 0:06:30.156 --> 0:06:33.076 hide out between the dunes, radio for help, and wait 0:06:33.116 --> 0:06:36.076 for night to fall again. Once it was dark, they'd 0:06:36.116 --> 0:06:39.956 swim back out to sea and be extracted. Silently, stealthily, 0:06:40.156 --> 0:06:42.876 they worked their way back to the beach. They waded 0:06:42.876 --> 0:06:45.316 through a stream and waste high water all the way. 0:06:45.956 --> 0:06:48.436 We could move much faster than the water, and we 0:06:48.476 --> 0:06:50.956 wouldn't have to worry about stumbling over somebody's sleeping because 0:06:51.076 --> 0:06:53.196 we could hear a guy snore, and it was unbelievable. 0:06:53.756 --> 0:06:55.876 Once they made it to the beach, the five men 0:06:55.916 --> 0:06:59.356 split up and hid behind two large dunes. There was 0:06:59.396 --> 0:07:02.156 a lagoon to one side, a wide swath of open 0:07:02.236 --> 0:07:04.916 sand to the other. The sun was rising and they 0:07:04.956 --> 0:07:08.796 settled into the long wait for darkness. But then they 0:07:08.836 --> 0:07:10.876 saw two North Vietnamese on patrol. 0:07:12.076 --> 0:07:15.556 Kwan come flying around and tapped me and tapped him 0:07:15.556 --> 0:07:17.476 on his shoulder and gave him the sun for two 0:07:17.596 --> 0:07:20.756 enemies back there. So I went back around and saw 0:07:20.796 --> 0:07:23.556 these guys coming. I could just see their silho whips. 0:07:24.036 --> 0:07:26.596 They knew they needed to capture or kill them. Discovery 0:07:26.636 --> 0:07:30.436 would be catastrophic. Mike crept up behind one and cold 0:07:30.476 --> 0:07:33.916 cocked him. Kwan, tied him up, gagged him, and dragged 0:07:33.996 --> 0:07:37.356 him out of sight. Mike silently signaled to Lieutenant Tie 0:07:37.356 --> 0:07:40.716 to eliminate the other one, but instead Ty called out 0:07:40.756 --> 0:07:43.036 to the soldier and ordered him to stop. 0:07:43.796 --> 0:07:46.796 He didn't stop, and that guy had an AK forty seven. 0:07:46.836 --> 0:07:48.836 He was about three hundred yards away, and he opened 0:07:48.836 --> 0:07:52.196 fired up on Tie. Tied to jumped down and started 0:07:52.236 --> 0:07:54.916 running back towards me. So he's running back towards me, 0:07:54.916 --> 0:07:57.196 and I'm running past him because I'm trying to get 0:07:57.236 --> 0:07:59.916 this guy, because we could see that he was heading 0:07:59.956 --> 0:08:00.756 for the village. 0:08:01.436 --> 0:08:04.076 The North Vietnamese soldier was running back to where he 0:08:04.116 --> 0:08:06.876 came from, firing off shots to alert everyone to the 0:08:06.916 --> 0:08:10.036 situation that the dunes. Mike was in pursuit. 0:08:10.876 --> 0:08:13.996 So I'm hauling can and I stopped on one knee, 0:08:13.996 --> 0:08:16.236 took two breasts and cranked off two rounds to hit 0:08:16.316 --> 0:08:17.876 him in the back and the guy fell. But when 0:08:17.916 --> 0:08:20.636 I looked up, there is a quick reaction for us 0:08:20.716 --> 0:08:23.676 coming with the village with about fifty guys. 0:08:24.236 --> 0:08:27.436 You can picture it, right, a huge group of men 0:08:27.876 --> 0:08:32.876 descending on Mike. Mike knew he had only one option run. 0:08:33.356 --> 0:08:37.516 So I turned around, started running back, and Tommy sees 0:08:37.556 --> 0:08:40.316 me running back, and here's all these bullets going off, 0:08:40.316 --> 0:08:42.196 and he doesn't see me shooting, So he knew like 0:08:42.276 --> 0:08:45.516 hell that we were in a world of trouble. 0:08:46.836 --> 0:08:50.196 A world of trouble. That's where Medal of Honor stories 0:08:50.236 --> 0:08:52.476 are made, in the places where the odds are so 0:08:52.596 --> 0:08:55.076 long and the risk is so great that it will 0:08:55.116 --> 0:08:57.836 take an act of extreme bravery for anyone to survive. 0:08:59.196 --> 0:09:03.356 But where does that bravery come from? That's one of 0:09:03.356 --> 0:09:05.356 the questions that got me so obsessed with Medal of 0:09:05.396 --> 0:09:08.756 Honor stories, because I think sometimes we just assumed that 0:09:08.836 --> 0:09:11.876 curry is a trait, something you're born with, and that 0:09:11.956 --> 0:09:14.916 what happens in moments like on that Vietnam beach is 0:09:14.956 --> 0:09:17.676 that we suddenly learn who has it and who doesn't. 0:09:18.636 --> 0:09:20.716 One of the things that happens when you listen to 0:09:20.836 --> 0:09:22.956 enough Medal of Honor stories is that you begin to 0:09:22.956 --> 0:09:26.436 realize that courage is not a birthright, it's a choice. 0:09:28.996 --> 0:09:31.876 Mike was being chased by a mass of North Vietnamese soldiers. 0:09:32.236 --> 0:09:35.316 Tommy saw him hauling can back towards the group and 0:09:35.356 --> 0:09:38.516 fired a rocket at a tree, exploding it and creating 0:09:38.596 --> 0:09:41.396 enough of a diversion so Mike could dive back into 0:09:41.396 --> 0:09:45.956 the dunes. It was total chaos because now they were 0:09:45.956 --> 0:09:49.636 being straighted with bullets. Tommy was desperately radioing for help. 0:09:49.916 --> 0:09:52.556 He needed a ship to send cover fire and drive 0:09:52.596 --> 0:09:56.156 the NVA back. Two Navy warships wanted to come to 0:09:56.196 --> 0:09:58.556 their aid, but they didn't know where the seals were. 0:09:58.956 --> 0:10:02.556 Any help was hours away. It was a series of 0:10:02.636 --> 0:10:08.116 problems that would seem overwhelming to anyone, but Mike broke 0:10:08.156 --> 0:10:13.196 down the big problem into components. They were five against 0:10:13.236 --> 0:10:17.076 an entire encampment of NVA, but the NVA didn't know 0:10:17.116 --> 0:10:20.516 how many of them there were, right, So solution number 0:10:20.516 --> 0:10:22.916 one make it look like they were ten or twenty 0:10:22.956 --> 0:10:27.916 of them. So Mike started impersonating an entire seal platoon. 0:10:28.476 --> 0:10:29.636 And as soon as I saw the top of their 0:10:29.676 --> 0:10:31.836 head coming up, I'd take about an inch shot and 0:10:31.916 --> 0:10:34.316 saying I'd get a headshot. Every time i'd take a 0:10:34.316 --> 0:10:36.036 couple of shots like that, I'd roll over and come 0:10:36.076 --> 0:10:38.036 out in another position. They didn't know if we had 0:10:38.076 --> 0:10:40.156 fifteen people in there or five. 0:10:40.876 --> 0:10:44.596 Mike keeps shooting, ducking and rolling for hours, and then 0:10:44.596 --> 0:10:46.836 someone threw a grenade over the top of the dune. 0:10:47.716 --> 0:10:49.956 And I just screamed out and I got hit six 0:10:50.076 --> 0:10:52.716 times when my back was wrapping them, and you could 0:10:52.716 --> 0:10:54.836 hear Tommy yelling, Mike, Buddy, Mike. But he just saw 0:10:54.876 --> 0:10:56.956 me laying on my back and I said. I didn't 0:10:56.996 --> 0:10:59.716 say a word, and about four guys came over and 0:10:59.756 --> 0:11:01.756 I was laying on my back and I eliminated all 0:11:01.796 --> 0:11:04.076 four of those guys. Two fell on my side, the 0:11:04.156 --> 0:11:07.436 two fell back, and Tommy was watching what was going on. 0:11:07.956 --> 0:11:10.316 Mike was on his back, expecting a surge of more 0:11:10.356 --> 0:11:13.516 North Vietnamese any moment now they knew he was hit, 0:11:13.996 --> 0:11:17.396 but instead the action just stopped. 0:11:18.396 --> 0:11:20.396 Tommy yelled down at me, said, they're falling back. We 0:11:20.436 --> 0:11:23.116 couldn't understand whether they were falling back. And they had 0:11:23.156 --> 0:11:26.236 had lost a great number of their of their unit, 0:11:26.436 --> 0:11:29.356 and to do this, and I still don't think they 0:11:29.356 --> 0:11:31.396 ever knew exactly how many people we had. 0:11:33.156 --> 0:11:37.476 A silence descended on the beach. Everything went eerily still. 0:11:38.156 --> 0:11:42.316 The five men began to regroup, got cautiously hopeful. Had 0:11:42.356 --> 0:11:44.436 their strategy actually worked. 0:11:45.156 --> 0:11:48.996 No, it hadn't, Tommy, he said, while they're falling back, 0:11:48.996 --> 0:11:52.076 and I said, pointed across the lagoon, and we started kunting. 0:11:52.116 --> 0:11:56.556 A great number of NVA troops coming from both sides 0:11:56.596 --> 0:11:57.436 around the lagoon. 0:11:57.996 --> 0:12:01.236 They were close to one hundred North Vietnamese troops. They 0:12:01.276 --> 0:12:05.716 were now outnumbered twenty to one. Tommy realized they needed 0:12:05.716 --> 0:12:08.516 a better position. He spied a dune in the distance 0:12:08.556 --> 0:12:11.636 that would give them a potential defense. The NBA would 0:12:11.636 --> 0:12:14.076 have to cross nearly a quarter of a mile of 0:12:14.156 --> 0:12:15.356 open sand to reach them. 0:12:15.396 --> 0:12:15.636 There. 0:12:16.316 --> 0:12:19.196 In theory, they could pick them off one by one 0:12:19.236 --> 0:12:21.996 if they could hold onto the high ground for that long. 0:12:22.596 --> 0:12:26.116 Tommy decided that Mike Kwan and Lieutenant Tye would run 0:12:26.156 --> 0:12:28.956 for the dune first. He and Dang would come after. 0:12:29.436 --> 0:12:33.036 The three started sprinting, crossing the five hundred yards of 0:12:33.076 --> 0:12:34.756 sand to the new dune. 0:12:35.396 --> 0:12:36.436 So we fell back. 0:12:37.116 --> 0:12:39.396 And while I was yelling Tommy, fall back, fall back, 0:12:39.436 --> 0:12:42.036 and I could see Dang, and this was like one o'clock, 0:12:42.236 --> 0:12:44.316 one thirty in the afternoon, because the far fight had 0:12:44.396 --> 0:12:46.996 gone on for over five hours, was running down the 0:12:47.076 --> 0:12:49.356 dune by himself, and he was running by himself and 0:12:49.396 --> 0:12:51.636 I said, my grab and I said where Tommy. He said, Mike, aw, 0:12:51.756 --> 0:12:54.396 he's dead and I saw he sure, said he said 0:12:54.396 --> 0:12:55.276 he was shot in the head. 0:12:55.356 --> 0:12:55.836 He's dead. 0:12:58.756 --> 0:13:01.796 Tommy, the leader of the team, was shot in the 0:13:01.836 --> 0:13:05.916 head and dead. Mike trusted Dang. They'd been on missions 0:13:05.916 --> 0:13:09.276 together before, his hand picked him for this one. Dan 0:13:09.396 --> 0:13:11.796 knew what he'd seen, and Mike had no reason not 0:13:11.916 --> 0:13:15.276 to believe him. The situation for the rest of them 0:13:15.516 --> 0:13:18.636 was getting more dangerous by the minute. The team was 0:13:18.676 --> 0:13:22.436 about to be surrounded by North Vietnamese soldiers, but seals 0:13:22.996 --> 0:13:27.196 have a core value leave no man behind, So Mike 0:13:27.236 --> 0:13:31.796 decided he would go and get Tommy, putting principal above 0:13:31.836 --> 0:13:32.716 self preservation. 0:13:33.996 --> 0:13:36.076 I said, stay here, I'll go back and get tom 0:13:36.476 --> 0:13:38.596 and Kwan and Dane both grabbed me and held me. 0:13:38.676 --> 0:13:40.316 Said no, Mike, you stay, and I said, no, I'm 0:13:40.356 --> 0:13:41.876 going back. Y'all stay hear you cover me. 0:13:42.996 --> 0:13:45.956 Mike ran back across the beach, back almost a quarter 0:13:45.956 --> 0:13:49.796 of a mile, directly into the gunfire. He reached Tommy 0:13:49.956 --> 0:13:53.316 just as five North Vietnamese soldiers did, and he shot 0:13:53.316 --> 0:13:53.716 them all. 0:13:54.516 --> 0:13:55.556 I picked Tommy up. 0:13:56.156 --> 0:13:59.036 He was shot through the left temple, and the bullet 0:13:59.036 --> 0:14:01.796 had exited through his forehead and the whole front level 0:14:01.836 --> 0:14:04.996 part of his front brain was gone. His cheekbone was gone, 0:14:05.036 --> 0:14:08.396 his eye sucket was completely gone, and I thought he 0:14:08.516 --> 0:14:08.876 was dead. 0:14:10.316 --> 0:14:12.836 On some level, it didn't matter if Tommy was alive 0:14:12.916 --> 0:14:18.796 or dead. Mike knew he wasn't leaving that beach without him. 0:14:19.036 --> 0:14:37.876 We'll be right back. Here's where the story of that 0:14:37.956 --> 0:14:40.756 night on the beach is so interesting to me. At 0:14:40.756 --> 0:14:45.476 this critical point, Mike Thornton, a supremely rational guy who 0:14:45.516 --> 0:14:47.716 talks about the most dramatic night of his life as 0:14:47.716 --> 0:14:50.476 if it's a trip to the grocery store, is making 0:14:50.516 --> 0:14:55.516 what seems like an unbelievably irrational decision as he runs 0:14:55.556 --> 0:14:59.476 across the sand to Tommy Norris. He's being driven by something. 0:15:00.036 --> 0:15:00.596 What is it? 0:15:01.396 --> 0:15:05.396 You've probably heard the saying courage is contagious. It's one 0:15:05.436 --> 0:15:07.756 of those bits of folk wisdom that turns out to 0:15:07.796 --> 0:15:12.276 be true. Research has shown that seeing or even just 0:15:12.436 --> 0:15:15.636 hearing about an act of courage makes it more likely 0:15:15.676 --> 0:15:19.236 that you will be courageous yourself. The scientific term for 0:15:19.316 --> 0:15:24.036 that idea is pro social contagion. When you witness kindness 0:15:24.356 --> 0:15:28.796 or heroism. Two separate areas in your nervous system are activated. 0:15:29.316 --> 0:15:33.196 Your awareness is heightened, your desire to protect others grows. 0:15:34.036 --> 0:15:37.796 You catch your heroism from others. We see this all 0:15:37.836 --> 0:15:40.316 the time. One person holds a door open for the 0:15:40.316 --> 0:15:42.956 person behind them, and then suddenly a whole string of 0:15:42.956 --> 0:15:45.556 people are holding open the door as well. That's a 0:15:45.596 --> 0:15:48.916 small example, but think about the passengers on flight ninety 0:15:48.916 --> 0:15:52.116 three on nine to eleven, A group of terrified average 0:15:52.156 --> 0:15:55.716 people who made a collective decision to fight back against 0:15:55.836 --> 0:16:01.596 terrible odds. They inspired heroism in one another. So what's 0:16:01.716 --> 0:16:04.676 driving Mike Thornton to make his totally bonker's decision to 0:16:04.756 --> 0:16:08.556 race across the beach? Something he knew about that happened 0:16:08.556 --> 0:16:13.996 in Vietnam. Six months before that spring, an Air Force 0:16:14.036 --> 0:16:17.516 flight was shot down over North Vietnam, with one survivor 0:16:17.756 --> 0:16:21.156 left behind the front lines. He had top secret intel, 0:16:21.476 --> 0:16:24.356 so the Air Force sent mission after mission to rescue him. 0:16:24.636 --> 0:16:29.796 Each one a catastrophic failure, men dying aircraft destroyed, Then 0:16:29.836 --> 0:16:33.156 a second pilot, one of the rescuers, got stranded behind 0:16:33.236 --> 0:16:37.556 enemy lines. Finally, the Air Force called in the Navy Seals. 0:16:38.156 --> 0:16:41.156 The Seals sent in one of their best. He snuck 0:16:41.236 --> 0:16:44.796 into heavily patrolled enemy territory and found one of the pilots. 0:16:45.116 --> 0:16:48.596 They got out alive, but barely. Then he went back 0:16:48.636 --> 0:16:51.276 for the second one. This time it was even more 0:16:51.316 --> 0:16:54.676 of a suicide mission, but the seal did it anyway, 0:16:55.036 --> 0:16:58.716 disguised as a fisherman paddling a canoe, and he succeeded. 0:16:59.956 --> 0:17:03.076 Everyone in the seals knew that story, especially Mike Thornton, 0:17:03.356 --> 0:17:07.276 because the seal who rescued those two pilots was Tommy Norris. 0:17:10.396 --> 0:17:13.396 So when Mike raced across the beach to get his friend, 0:17:13.596 --> 0:17:17.356 his commanding officer, he was doing what he already knew 0:17:17.436 --> 0:17:21.676 Tommy had done himself and would do for anyone. Tommy's 0:17:21.756 --> 0:17:29.916 courage was contagious. Back to the firefight, a naval destroyer 0:17:30.116 --> 0:17:33.156 has finally arrived to give them cover. Mike was running 0:17:33.196 --> 0:17:35.636 as fast as he could with Tommy on his shoulders, 0:17:35.756 --> 0:17:37.556 as the ship started shelling the beach. 0:17:38.156 --> 0:17:41.076 I heard the first eight inch round coming in and 0:17:41.116 --> 0:17:43.436 the concussion blew me almost twenty feet in the air, 0:17:43.476 --> 0:17:45.916 and I looked at Tommy and he's flying off my shoulders. 0:17:46.356 --> 0:17:50.756 Mike got blown sideways. He was dazed stumbling. Tommy, of course, 0:17:50.916 --> 0:17:53.636 had already been shot in the head. Now he'd been 0:17:53.676 --> 0:17:56.156 tossed through the air by a shell from a Navy destroyer. 0:17:56.716 --> 0:17:59.956 If he wasn't dead before, he was certainly dead now 0:18:00.916 --> 0:18:03.596 once again, Mike chose to go back for him. 0:18:04.556 --> 0:18:06.996 I looked down, I saw my weapon, I saw Tommy's weapon. 0:18:07.076 --> 0:18:09.556 I saw Tommy over here, and I ran over and 0:18:09.596 --> 0:18:12.556 he's laying on his back. And I looked down at 0:18:12.636 --> 0:18:14.316 him to grab him, to pick him start running with 0:18:14.396 --> 0:18:17.356 him again. And he had to ride eye open like that, 0:18:17.476 --> 0:18:19.916 he says, Mike, Buddy, I said, the son of a 0:18:19.956 --> 0:18:20.836 bitch is still alive. 0:18:22.036 --> 0:18:25.516 Tommy was alive, and Mike had to keep him alive. 0:18:26.196 --> 0:18:28.636 Mike looked to the far away dune where Dang and 0:18:28.716 --> 0:18:31.036 Kwan were still waiting, then back to Tommy. 0:18:31.756 --> 0:18:33.956 Half his head's hanging out, you know, and about picking 0:18:33.996 --> 0:18:35.356 him up. And I put him back on my shoulders 0:18:35.396 --> 0:18:36.276 and I started running. 0:18:36.876 --> 0:18:40.476 Dang and Kwan started shooting, giving them cover. Ty was gone. 0:18:40.876 --> 0:18:42.876 As he had watched Mike run to Tommy. The young 0:18:42.916 --> 0:18:46.476 lieutenant had given up. Hope, jumped into water and swam away, 0:18:46.876 --> 0:18:50.676 deserting the firefight as a lost cause they're radio was 0:18:50.716 --> 0:18:54.556 shot to bits, useless, no more calling for help. The 0:18:54.596 --> 0:18:57.356 only option was to get off the beach and swim 0:18:57.396 --> 0:19:01.716 to safety. The navy warships were far offshore, but maybe 0:19:01.716 --> 0:19:04.356 they could reach them. Anything was better than remaining on 0:19:04.396 --> 0:19:08.876 the beach. Mike, Kwan and Dang leaped frog towards the surf, 0:19:09.436 --> 0:19:12.076 each one taking turns spreading to the water as the 0:19:12.076 --> 0:19:15.076 other two covered him. They had almost no AMMO left. 0:19:15.676 --> 0:19:18.996 The North Vietnamese surrounded them on three sides. The team 0:19:19.076 --> 0:19:22.236 had nowhere to go with the ocean. By now, Mike 0:19:22.276 --> 0:19:24.716 had a bullet through his calf and he was still 0:19:24.756 --> 0:19:25.476 carrying Tommy. 0:19:26.156 --> 0:19:28.036 We got to the beach and I stumbled and fell 0:19:28.116 --> 0:19:31.236 and Tommy rolled over like that, and I said, gush, 0:19:31.276 --> 0:19:33.076 if they ain't killed, I'm gonna kill and dropping him. 0:19:33.076 --> 0:19:33.996 All this time. 0:19:36.596 --> 0:19:40.116 There were swells four feet high. Mike tucked Tommy under 0:19:40.116 --> 0:19:42.716 his arm and dove in, pushing him underneath the waves 0:19:42.756 --> 0:19:44.316 to get him through the surf zone. 0:19:44.516 --> 0:19:46.956 And without me knowing about, I was basically drowning Tommy. 0:19:46.996 --> 0:19:49.596 I felt him because he has been pretty quiet there 0:19:49.636 --> 0:19:52.516 period of time, and he actually started hitting his hands 0:19:52.516 --> 0:19:54.116 and hit me in the back. And I looked down 0:19:54.076 --> 0:19:55.596 and I had his head stuffed in the water. 0:19:56.516 --> 0:19:59.716 The shots kept coming from shore. The soldiers on the 0:19:59.716 --> 0:20:01.556 beach never stopped firing. 0:20:02.436 --> 0:20:05.116 As we swam through the surf song, you could see 0:20:05.156 --> 0:20:08.356 the bullets just going through the water, just like you 0:20:08.436 --> 0:20:09.316 did in the movie, you know. 0:20:09.356 --> 0:20:11.436 And I was saying, good Lord, don't let hit me. Now. God. 0:20:12.716 --> 0:20:15.956 Out past the breaking waves, the water was calm except 0:20:15.996 --> 0:20:18.956 for the sound of bullets splashing around them. Now Mike 0:20:18.996 --> 0:20:20.956 had to figure out just how he was going to 0:20:20.996 --> 0:20:24.436 stabilize Tommy. He took his life jacket and put it 0:20:24.476 --> 0:20:28.156 over Tommy's head as carefully as he possibly could so 0:20:28.276 --> 0:20:31.076 he wouldn't make the wound any worse. He tied a 0:20:31.116 --> 0:20:34.396 line around him, securing Tommy to his back. He saw 0:20:34.476 --> 0:20:36.956 Dang out front of him swimming another of his men 0:20:36.996 --> 0:20:40.356 accounted for. He was hopeful to tie the young lieutenant 0:20:40.396 --> 0:20:43.356 was out there swimming too. He was worried about him, 0:20:43.796 --> 0:20:46.876 even though Ty had left them for dead. Then he 0:20:46.916 --> 0:20:50.436 spot a quan floundering in the water. He was wounded 0:20:50.876 --> 0:20:51.516 and drowning. 0:20:51.996 --> 0:20:54.196 He was shot through his right hip and off his 0:20:54.196 --> 0:20:56.436 whole cheek of his butt, and he couldn't swim. So 0:20:56.476 --> 0:21:01.636 I grabbed him put in front of me, and I 0:21:00.876 --> 0:21:03.276 had had him wrap his arms ar me like this. 0:21:03.396 --> 0:21:05.276 I had arms underneath his arms, and he held on 0:21:05.396 --> 0:21:07.756 Tommy and I swam for appartiately three three and a 0:21:07.796 --> 0:21:08.396 half hours. 0:21:09.476 --> 0:21:12.596 So now Mike was holding two men after a five 0:21:12.676 --> 0:21:16.516 hour of firefight. Shrapnel in his back, bullet in his leg. 0:21:17.276 --> 0:21:19.356 He can't even see the boat he's meant to swim to, 0:21:20.236 --> 0:21:21.596 but he starts to swim. 0:21:22.076 --> 0:21:24.796 You stay focused on the motion, You keep swimming, You 0:21:24.916 --> 0:21:26.356 never stop, you keep swimming. 0:21:26.436 --> 0:21:28.636 You can just keep focused a lot. Let this go, 0:21:28.796 --> 0:21:29.476 keep us alive. 0:21:30.676 --> 0:21:34.316 Tommy, tied to Mike's back, drifted in and out of consciousness, 0:21:34.596 --> 0:21:37.396 waking up only to ask if all the men were safe. 0:21:37.836 --> 0:21:40.236 Mike lied and said he hid all of them, didn't 0:21:40.316 --> 0:21:44.876 mention the missing tie. Tommy got quieter and quieter, and 0:21:44.956 --> 0:21:47.636 Mike kept swimming. He had been keeping his eyes on 0:21:47.676 --> 0:21:51.476 the horizon, where he'd seen glimpses of the USS Newport News, 0:21:51.756 --> 0:21:54.476 the largest cruiser in that part of the South China Sea. 0:21:54.956 --> 0:21:56.996 He knew it had a medical team on board, which 0:21:57.036 --> 0:21:59.316 was a rarity since most of the American military had 0:21:59.316 --> 0:22:02.676 gone home at the top of a swell. He saw 0:22:02.676 --> 0:22:05.516 the ship again, but it seemed to be sailing away. 0:22:06.196 --> 0:22:07.996 Wow, so the worst lighter saw my wife. I saw 0:22:07.996 --> 0:22:10.116 a big boat turn arounding, started going seaward. 0:22:10.796 --> 0:22:13.796 It was enough to make the mighty thorer give up hope. 0:22:14.076 --> 0:22:16.876