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Colonel James Helm Kasler (May 2, 1926 - April 24, 2014) was the only person to be awarded the Air Force Cross three times.〔(Names and Citations of Recipients of the Air Force Cross )〕〔Frisbee, John L.(1986). ''AIR FORCE Magazine'', November 1986, Vol. 69, ("Valor: Valor In Three Wars" )〕 The Air Force Cross ranks just below the Medal of Honor as an award for extraordinary heroism in combat. Kasler was a combat veteran of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. In Korea, as an F-86 Sabre pilot with the 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing, he was recognized as an ace, credited with shooting down MiG-15s. 〔Perry D. Luckett, Charles L. Byler (2005). 'Tempered Steel: The Three Wars of Triple Air Force Cross Winner Jim Kasler'〕 Kasler flew a combined 198 combat missions and was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam from August 1966 until March 1973. Included among his 76 awards for valor and service, in addition to receiving three awards of the Air Force Cross, Kasler was decorated twice with the Silver Star, a Legion of Merit, nine awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Bronze Star Medals, two Purple Hearts, and eleven awards of the Air Medal. ==Military biography== Enlisting in the United States Army Air Forces toward the end of World War II, Kasler flew seven missions as a B-29 Superfortress tail gunner. With the end of the war Kasler used his veteran’s benefits to complete his college degree before returning to the newly formed United States Air Force in time to serve in the Korean War. During that war he flew 100 combat missions in an F-86E Sabre while assigned to the 335th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron of the 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing and scored 6 confirmed air-to-air victories against MiG-15s, becoming among the first jet "aces".〔(POW network Biography, Kasler, James H )〕 On August 8, 1966, while flying an F-105D Thunderchief on his 91st combat mission over North Vietnam while with the 354th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 355th Tactical Fighter Wing, then Major Kasler was searching for his downed wingman at treetop level when he was shot down by intense North Vietnamese ground fire. He was captured and held as a prisoner of war for 6½ years until March 4, 1973. For more than a month in 1967 Kasler was the target of nearly continuous daily torture. He received his third award of the AFC for resisting torture inflicted on him over a two-month period during the summer of 1968 in an attempt to coerce his cooperation with visiting anti-war delegations and propaganda film makers.〔〔(POW Bio Page Of Scope Systems )〕 Kasler described his worst treatment: "My worst session of torture began in late June 1968. The Vietnamese were attempting to force me to meet a delegation and appear before TV cameras on the occasion of the supposed 3,000th American airplane shot down over North Vietnam. I couldn't say the things they were trying to force me to say. I was tortured for six weeks. I went through the ropes and irons ten times. I was denied sleep for five days and during three of these was beaten every hour on the hour with a fan belt. During the entire period I was on a starvation diet. I was very sick during this period. I had contacted osteomyelitis in early 1967 and had a massive bone infection in my right leg. They would wrap my leg before each torture session so I wouldn't get pus or blood all over the floor of the interrogation room. During this time they beat my face to a pulp. I couldn't get my teeth apart for five days. My ear drum was ruptured, one of my ribs broken and the pin in my right leg was broken loose and driven up into my hip."〔 On 15 September 2007 the United States Air Force dedicated a monument to him. James Kasler retired from the United States Air Force as a colonel. He and his wife Martha resided in Illinois. Kasler died April 24, 2014 in West Palm Beach, Florida.〔The Daily Journal, http://www.daily-journal.com/news/local/decorated-pow-pilot-james-h-kasler-dies-at/article_66e6d821-262c-58ad-8fc9-3878fb98b02f.html〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「James H. Kasler」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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