Leo Thorsness, Minnesota’s last living Medal of Honor recipient, dies at 85

Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Leo Thorsness, a Minnesota native who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during a dogfight over North Vietnam and who later spent six years in the enemy prison camp known as the “Hanoi Hilton,” died Tuesday at a hospital in Jacksonville, Fla. Thorsness, who was the last living Medal of Honor recipient from Minnesota, was 85.

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society announced his death. The cause was not disclosed.

During the Vietnam War, Thorsness was one of only 13 members of the Air Force to receive the Medal of Honor, the military’s highest award for valor. The award was not announced during the six years he was held in North Vietnam, to keep his captors from inflicting additional torture on him and his fellow POWs.

Thorsness was held in the same prison as another downed pilot, John McCain, now a Republican U.S. senator from Arizona. In a statement, McCain said Thorsness “never let this experience break his spirit, and inspired the rest of us with his patriotism, perseverance, and hope that we would someday be free.”