Medal of Honor recipient ‘Mighty Thor’ spoke to packed house at The Pritzker
Monday, November 30, 2009 at 8:38AM 
Petty Officer Michael E. Thornton, a Navy Seal, spoke at The Pritzker Military Library about actions that led to his receiving the Medal of Honor. [Photo by Chris N. Seger; used with permission of Mishalov.com]**A reader named Dennis says the uniform looks like the rank is lieutenant. We used the rank from the citation and it was listed as Petty Officer. We thank our reader for his comments.Ask someone what their idea of a hero is and the answer could be anything from athletes to politicians. Last week, however, I had the honor of meeting a real hero at a reception and interview with Medal of Honor recipient Michael Thornton at Chicago's Pritzker Military Library. Thornton's actions in October, 1972 marked the last time a recipient of the medal would survive his or her exploits; all actions since have been awarded posthumously.
Thornton told his story to the standing-room-only crowd at the library, and he answered several questions from the audience before signing autographs.
The Pritzker has hosted a number of Medal of Honor events.
By 1972, the war in Vietnam was drawing to a close; the few remaining U.S. forces were advisers from Army Special Forces (Green Berets), Marine Force Reconnaissance, and Navy SEALs. On October 31, two Navy SEALs – Petty Officer Mike Thornton—‘The Mighty Thor’ as his teammates called him—and Lieutenant Tom ‘Nasty’ Norris embarked on a mission to gather intelligence and capture prisoners at the Cua Viet River Base behind enemy lines. Together with three LDNN (South Vietnamese SEALs) the commandos inserted under cover of darkness.
Lt. Norris' team realized that they had actually been inserted in North Vietnam; the Navy vessel that was supposed to vector the SEALs to shore did not show up. They were patrolling through a heavily-fortified camp of several thousand North Vietnamese soldiers. The team headed back to the sea, but before they reached the water, the LDNN officer decided to capture two North Vietnamese Army soldiers that were patrolling the beach. Rather than surrender to the commandos, the two enemy soldiers alerted the force in the jungle by firing their rifles in the air. Thornton chased down and eliminated the two soldiers, but the mission had been compromised, and the SEALs were in for a major fight.
Thornton ran back to the beach with dozens of NVA soldiers in hot pursuit. A firefight between Thornton and the soldiers ensued, and, despite being wounded by a grenade blast, he eliminated a great many of the enemy force. In fact, Thornton's fire was so effective that he forced the numerically superior NVA to fall back. The SEAL team leapfrogged backwards towards the sea. By then about 150 enemy troops maneuvered to surround their position. When Norris stopped to launch a LAW (light anti-tank weapon) rocket at the oncoming force, an enemy round hit him in the head.
One of the LDNN informed Thornton that Norris was dead. However, Thornton decided that – dead or alive – he would not leave his Lieutenant and friend behind. Ignoring heavy incoming fire, he charged across 500 yards of open beach to Norris' location, killing the two soldiers who were standing over the body, and carried Norris back to the shore, again braving fire from the pursuing enemy soldiers and incoming artillery.
Once in the water, Thornton swam out to sea holding Norris, who was barely alive. Then he spotted one of the LDNN who was incapacitated – having been shot in the hip and unable to swim. Thornton tied the second wounded teammate to his back. Incredibly, Thornton swam for over two hours before being picked up.
Upon seeing the gravely wounded Lt. Norris, the doctors aboard the USS Newport News thought that he would not survive his wounds.
“God was on his side, that's all I can say,” Thornton explained.
Norris did recover, however, and he was also awarded the Medal of Honor for a daring rescue of two downed U.S. pilots deep behind enemy lines in April 1972. Thus Thornton became the only Medal of Honor recipient to rescue another recipient.
But Thornton, MOH winner raised on a family farm in South Carolina, still had one more rescue up his sleeve: In October of 1973, Mike Thornton was on his way to the White House to receive the Medal of Honor from President Richard Nixon. Lieutenant Norris, still a patient at nearby Bethesda Naval Hospital, had been forbidden by his doctors to go to the ceremony, but Thornton “kidnapped” Norris and took him along. Almost three years later, Thornton watched Norris receive his medal.
Most people can not swim continually for two hours in a pool, let alone at sea – with shrapnel and bullet wounds – after an exhausting five-hour firefight, especially if the swimmer is carrying two injured men.
‘The Mighty Thor’ did.
Reader Comments (2)
The accompanying photo identifies the hero as Petty Officer Thornton. From the uniform, I'd say he looks a lot like LT. Thornton.
Dennis, thank you. I used a citation from the Web and went by the citation at the military site describing his actions. I will make a note of that in the caption. I appreciate your sharing that with me.--best, KBDay