pagesofhistory
A SEAL’s Story
Now that the truth about his death during the Vietnam
War has been discovered, a U.S. Navy SEAL is honored
posthumously with a Bronze Star medal.
F
or 25 years Navy Capt. Melvin Dry Dry’s award was presented
worked to learn more about his son’s to his family at a Feb. 25 cere-
death during the Vietnam War, but mony at the U.S. Naval Acade-
he wasn’t able to gain the recognition his my, Annapolis, Md. Attendees
son deserved before his own death in 1997. included members of Dry’s
Now, Lt. Spence Dry, the last Navy SEAL SEAL platoon, the Grayback’s
killed in Vietnam, has been posthumously former commander, and Lt.
awarded the Bronze Star medal with valor. Col. John Dramesi, a POW
In 1972, Dry was in charge of a small who was one of the subjects
SEAL platoon that took part in a POW res- of the mission but who never
cue mission called Operation Thunderhead. met his would-be rescuers.
Because of the mission’s secrecy, Dry never
received recognition for his actions. His Military Films
death in the waters off North Vietnam orig- on the Web
inally was considered a training accident.
Dry and his team launched in a mini-
submarine from the submarine USS Gray- A
new Web site has
been established to
showcase military
back, but the mini-sub ran out of battery history fi lms that feature
power fi ghting the currents. They scuttled topics ranging from the Wright brothers’ Spence Dry is pro-
the craft to prevent it from falling into fi rst fl ight to the current wars in Iraq and moted to lieutenant
enemy hands and were rescued by a Navy Afghanistan. Launched early this year, July 1, 1971, by SEAL
helicopter seven hours later.
www.realmilitaryfl
ix.com offers more Team ONE com-
Dry insisted on returning to the Gray- than 1,800 movie titles. mander Lt. Cmdr.
back to lead future missions. A Navy The Web site includes original fi lms Dan Hendrickson
helicopter fl ew the SEAL team to the produced by the military for documen- (not pictured).
submarine’s location, but limited vis- tary, training, and propaganda purposes
ibility and other factors made the casting during World War I and World War II.
of the team diffi cult. Dry was the fi rst to Many of the movies, such as secret agent
jump from the helicopter and was killed training fi lms, were once top-secret but
instantly when he struck the water. since have been declassifi ed. The site also
features Vietcong, German, Japanese, and
THIS MONTH IN HISTORY
Italian military fi lms. The subscription-
a73 On May 12, 1958, the Canadian and American
based site is discounted for U.S. military
governments signed the official agreement that
veterans and retirees.
created the North American Aerospace Defense
The site was the idea of John Corry, a
Command, formally acknowledging a mutual com-
mitment to defend their citizens from air attacks.
former combat camera offi cer in the Air
Force and a television producer. MO
PHOTO: COURTESY ROBERT W. DRY/
WWW.NAVSOC.SOCOM.MIL M AY 2 0 0 8 M I L I T A R Y O F F I C E R 7 5
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