When I found out Monday morning that Medal of Honor recipient and Columbus resident Col. (Ret.) Robert Nett passed away over the weekend I was initially more upset that I'd have to drop what I was working on and pursue this story.
That is until I started to pursue this story.
What a cool guy Col. Nett was!
He earned the nation's highest military award for valor on Dec. 14, 1944, for heroic actions during hand-to-hand fighting with Japanese soldiers at their heavily fortified stronghold on the west coast of Leyte near Cognon in the Philippines. Furthermore, he's the last of five Medal of Honor recipients who lived in Columbus.
It upsets me that I let my petty preoccupations overshadow my duty as a newspaper person and an American. So, I contacted as many family members and friends I could find and asked them about this hero.
Here's the story.
A side note: Don't ever say someone won the Medal of Honor. According to at least three people I spoke to for this story, two of which are retired colonels, one earns the Medal of Honor. They don't win it.
Check out the language here.
And Nett's full citation here.
xoxoL
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