Our latest interview is a special one, Bill Kendall was with SOG in the early days, from 1964 to 1965 and then did another tour at CCC in 1968. This was a great period of change for SOG with the change over from CIA management to being run by the Army. The early years had a focus on agent insertion into North Vietnam and less on cross border reconnaissances into Laos and Cambodia.
Bill has also allowed us access to his photo album, this time its a selection of photos from his personal album featuring the Medal Of Honor flag he designed.
Bill Kendall: Interview
SOG 1964-1965: House 10 and Agent Insertion
SOG 1968-1969: CCC, Kontum and running recon
Bill Kendall Album: Graduation pictures and current photos
Bill Kendell's first set of orders for Airborne Unassigned.
Medal Of Honor Flag: Bill Kendell was responsible for coming up with the original concept for and designing the Offical medal of Honor Flag. On October 23, 2002, Pub.L. 107-248 was enacted, modifying 36 U.S.C. § 903, authorizing a Medal of Honor flag to be presented to recipients of the decoration.
The flag was based on a concept by retired Army Special Forces First Sergeant Bill Kendall of Jefferson, Iowa,who designed a flag to honor Medal of Honor recipient Captain Darrell Lindsey, a B-26 pilot killed in World War II who was also from Jefferson. Kendall's design of a light blue field emblazoned with 13 white five-pointed stars was nearly identical to that of Sarah LeClerc's of the Institute of Heraldry. LeClerc's design, ultimately accepted as the official flag, does not include the words "Medal of Honor" and is fringed in gold. The color of the field and the 13 white stars, arranged in the form of a three bar chevron, consisting of two chevrons of five stars and one chevron of three stars, replicate the Medal of Honor ribbon. The flag has no set proportions.
The first Medal of Honor recipient to receive the official flag was Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith. The flag was cased and presented to his family along with his medal. A special ceremony presenting this flag to 60 Medal of Honor recipients was held onboard USS Constitution on September 30, 2006.
"This is George Day, MOH recipient from Sioux City, Iowa. I believe he lives in Florida now. There are only 3 MOH recipients from Iowa still alive. The young man from Hiawatha, Iowa just received the MOH from the President. He is an outstanding young man."
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