Remembering those who sacrificed for our freedom and way of life

An American Hero is a short biography of  Cpl. Horace Marvin “Bud” Thorne, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Battle of the Bulge– Germany’s last major offensive in its western theater in World War II.

The video was produced for the 50th Anniversary of Thorne Middle School in Middletown and for a reunion of Battle of the Bulge survivors which took place at the school.

Every American hero who have given their lives has a story like Bud’s.  Today we honor their sacrifice and celebrate the great nation they made possible.

“My generation has not had to go through the fear of the draft or the likelihood that we would – in large numbers – be sent off to die in war. Our mothers haven’t had to face what they knew might likely be our last meal with them. We haven’t had to go through those things because those that came before us were strong enough to go through them for us – and those that go off to war today volunteer to do so, so the rest of us won’t have to.

“The ghosts of those that have fallen sit next to us at our picnic tables and it is – consciously or not – to them we drink. They sit there I’m sure, reveling in the world they made possible, watching our children playing in the yard, knowing that our children’s young lives hold as much potential as they do in no small part due to the sacrifices our fallen heroes made.”
– Declan O’Scanlon Jr. –