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Via the NYT

Col. Leo K. Thorsness, one of the most highly decorated American airmen of the Vietnam War and a belated recipient of the Medal of Honor for his heroism on a mission that took place 11 days before he was shot down and taken prisoner, died Tuesday in Jacksonville, Fla. Colonel Thorsness, who had been brutalized during his six years of captivity at the notorious North Vietnamese prison known as the Hanoi Hilton, where he was a cellmate of John McCain’s, was 85.

His wife, Gaylee, said the cause was leukemia. He died at a Mayo Clinic. Colonel and Mrs. Thorsness had been living in St. Augustine, Fla., for the past year and half.