The Daily Nightly began on May 31, 2005. As Brian wrote in his first post it aims to provide a narrative of the broadcast day and a window into the editorial process at NBC Nightly News. Brian weighs in every weekday and NBC News correspondents and producers post regularly.
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About the broadcast | Biographies
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Every weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of "Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
ROGER H.C. DONLON
CAPTAIN, U.S. ARMY Detachment A-726, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces
Roger Donlon always felt that the military was his destiny in life. His father had served in World War I; all four of his brothers served in the Army or Air Force. He had wanted to go to the newly established Air Force Academy and learn to fly, but an eye examination detected the beginning of a cataract. Instead, Donlon graduated from the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School and qualified for West Point in 1955. After two years he resigned to join the Army. He graduated from Officer Candidate School and was eventually assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group in 1963.
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Link to thisEvery weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of "Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
DREW D. DIX
Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army U.S. Senior Adviser Group, IV Corps, Military Assistance Command
Drew Dix volunteered for the Army in 1962. He wanted to be in Special Forces, but at eighteen he was too young, so he spent the next three years with the 82nd Airborne and participated in the peacekeeping operation in the Dominican Republic in 1965.
By 1968, Dix had become a Special Forces adviser and was in Vietnam working on a CIA project in the provincial capital of Chau Phu near the Cambodian border. His mission was to coordinate intelligence gathering with a company-size unit made up mainly of indigenous Vietnamese, Cambodians, and hinese Nungs, primarily by capturing Vietcong soldiers for interrogation.
Discuss (2 comments) Email this | Link to thisEvery weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of "Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
DUANE E. DEWEY
Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps Company E, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division
When 19-year-old Duane Dewey joined the Marines soon after North Korean forces rolled into the South, it was an “indefinite” enlistment—the duration of the war plus six months. Dewey was part of the 1st Marine Division, which was near Panmunjom in the spring of 1952. The command had established a series of outposts beyond the main American force. Corporal Dewey was the leader of a machine-gun squad in a reinforced platoon dug in at one of these positions when it was attacked by a battalion-size Chinese force around midnight on April 16.
Discuss (2 comments) Email this | Link to thisEvery weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of "Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
JEFFERSON J. DeBLANC
Captain, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Marine Fighter Squadron 112
In 1938 Jefferson DeBlanc was working as a bench chemist in the sugarcane industry to earn enough money to attend college. The Civilian Pilot Training program, which the federal government had initiated in universities, seemed perfect for him—he had been fascinated by aviation ever since a U.S. Mail pilot had made a forced landing near his home and allowed him to get into the cockpit. He signed up for the program and learned to fly in Piper Cubs, then entered the Naval Aviation Cadet Reserve program and became a Marine fighter pilot. At the time he was sent to the Pacific in the fall of 1942, he had only ten hours in a Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighter.
Discuss (1 comments) Email this | Link to thisEvery weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of "Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
GEORGE E. “Bud” DAY
Major, U.S. Air Force Misty Forward Air Controller Squadron
George “Bud” Day was seventeen in late 1942 when he badgered his parents into allowing him to volunteer for the Marine Corps. He spent nearly three years in the South Pacific during World War II, then returned home, went to college, and got a law degree.
In 1950, he joined the Air National Guard. When he was called up for active duty a year later, he applied for pilot training and flew fighter jets during the Korean War. After being promoted to captain in 1955, he decided to become a “lifer” in the Air Force.
Discuss (3 comments) Email this | Link to thisEvery weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of "Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
SAMMY L. DAVIS
Private First Class, U.S. Army Battery C, 2nd
Battalion, 4th Artillery, 9th Infantry Division
Sammy Davis took some ribbing in the Army because he shared a name with the famous entertainer. Much later, long after his military days were over, he would again gain some acclaim among his old comrades, this time as the “real” Forrest Gump.
Davis enlisted in the Army directly out of high school in 1966. Volunteering for the artillery because his father had been an artilleryman in World War II, he was assigned to the 4th Artillery. Soon after completing training, he asked to be sent to Vietnam.
Discuss (1 comments) Email this | Link to thisEvery weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of "Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
MICHAEL J. DALY
First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Company A, 15th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division
Michael Daly entered West Point in 1942, buthe left after one year to enlist as a private in the infantry. He trained in England and waded ashore on Omaha Beach on D-Day with the 1st Infantry Division, known as “the Big Red One.” After moving through France and into Germany, Daly was wounded near Aachen; he recuperated in England, then returned to action assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division and was given a battlefield commission as a second lieutenant.
Discuss (1 comments) Email this | Link to thisEvery weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of "Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
EDWARD C. DAHLGREN
SERGEANT, U.S. ARMY 3rd Platoon, Company E, 2nd Battalion, 142nd Infantry, 36th Infantry Division
Edward Dahlgren’s family emigrated from Sweden and became potato farmers in Maine. Dahlgren grew up speaking Swedish at home and attended a one-room schoolhouse. He left high school after his junior year to work on a potato farm near his home. Agriculture was always his first love, but because he wanted to help the war effort, in 1942 he took a job in a Massachusetts machine shop doing defense-related work. He was drafted into the Army early in 1943.
Discuss (1 comments) Email this | Link to thisEvery weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of "Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
FRANCIS S. CURREY
Private First Class, U.S. Army Company K, 120th Infantry, 30th Infantry Division
An orphan who had grown up in a foster home in upstate New York, Francis Currey enlisted in the Army in the summer of 1943, one week after he graduated from high school. Though he completed the Officer Candidate School course, his superior officers decided he was “too immature” to receive a commission.
Discuss (2 comments) Email this | Link to thisEvery weekday for 110 straight days we will feature a different living recipient of the Medal of Honor. These are the men who have received their nation's highest military honor. Brian is a board member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The words and photos are courtesy of Artisan Books, publishers of "Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier with photographs by Nick Del Calzo.
CHARLES H. COOLIDGE
Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army Company M, 141st Infantry, 36th Infantry Division
The bloodiest combat Charles Coolidge experienced was in 1943, after he went ashore at Salerno. Coolidge’s unit went up the boot of Italy and crossed the Rapido River to engage the Germans at Montecassino. There were surreal moments as well as violent ones: capturing sheep from the countryside and forcing them at bayonet point to cross enemy minefields. In all, the fighting was brutal and the American losses heavy, far worse than anything Coolidge would encounter later on.
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