Merlyn Hans Dethlefsen [SEP] conflict
Merlyn Hans Dethlefsen
Merlyn Hans Dethlefsen (June 29, 1934 – December 14, 1987) was a United States Air Force officer and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in the Vietnam War.
Early life.
Dethlefsen was born June 1934 in Greenville, Iowa. After attending Iowa State University for two years, he joined the Air Force from Royal, Iowa, in 1954, and was commissioned through the aviation cadet program in 1955.
Military
ejected over Laos, where they could avoid capture, rather than North Vietnam. Another USAF Captain, Merlyn Hans Dethlefsen, earned the Medal of Honor for his heroism on the same day, destroying one of the North Vietnamese missile sites guarding Thai Nguyen, despite the damage to his own F-105 Thunderchief. Captain Dethlefsen would be presented the nation's highest honor by President Johnson on February 1, 1968.
- Mrs. Maria Teresa Sepulveda, a 21-year-old woman in Mexico City, gave birth in the first confirmed case of