It was after midnight on June 19, 1968, when U.S. Navy Lt. Clyde Lassen and his helicopter crew flew into the jungle of North Vietnam to rescue two Navy aviators whose fighter jet had been shot down.

Taking on enemy fire in the predawn darkness and wary of the thick vegetation, Lassen attempted several difficult maneuvers to rescue the stranded pilots, at one point striking a tree and losing a door, but managing to keep his UH-2A Seasprite airborne. After several attempts, Lassen brought the aircraft to a low hover, his crew retrieved the men on the ground and Lassen piloted the group back to a waiting ship, landing with less than five minutes worth of fuel in the tank.

For his bravery, Lassen was awarded the Medal of Honor, the U.S. military’s highest decoration, by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1969.

Lassen, who retired from the Navy as a commander and died in 1994, was honored Sunday afternoon by the Naval Helicopter Association Historical Society with a plaque at the Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial. The ceremony concluded with a flyover by three helicopters from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 21 and Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 75 out of Naval Air Station North Island.

The Mount Soledad ceremony wrapped up a weekend of events honoring Lassen. On Saturday, Naval Base Coronado and Naval Air Station North Island held a dedication ceremony for a new helicopter memorial that now sits outside the main gate of the base. The monument, a full-size formerly operable helicopter, is known as the CDR Clyde E. Lassen, USN (Ret.) Medal of Honor SH-60F Oceanhawk Memorial Display.

Lassen is one of only 3,526 Medal of Honor recipients, and one of just three Navy pilots to receive the decoration during the Vietnam War. He is the 32nd Medal of Honor recipient with a plaque on Mount Soledad, where the privately owned memorial currently features more than 6,600 plaques made from the same black granite as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Retired U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Neil O’Connell, the executive director of the Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial, said there is no particular wall dedicated to admirals or generals or other high-ranking leaders.

“If you look on these walls, it’s a mosaic of our society,” O’Connell said. “Every era of conflict and history and sacrifice is represented at this beautiful memorial.”

Retired Navy Capt. Sandy Clark told the gathered crowd that Lassen was a humble, modest man who was a 26-year-old lieutenant when he piloted the rescue flight that early morning in Vietnam. He praised Lassen and his crew, who were awaken in the middle of the night and believed initially they were being sent on a training mission, only to end up instead conducting the harrowing rescue.

“Nothing ever good happens in Naval aviation without the help of a lot of people,” Clark said. “Clyde didn’t fly there by himself, he had a whole crew there… Clyde was brave, but it took the whole team to make it work properly.”

Clark praised Lassen and his crew for never quitting.

“There were ample opportunities to abandon the rescue,” Clark said. “They were low on fuel, they were being shot at, the aircraft was severely damaged, but he was focused enough to be able to pick those guys up and save them from certain death.”

The Navy named a guided missile destroyer after Lassen. The ship was commissioned in 2001 and was originally homeported in San Diego but is now stationed in Lassen’s home state of Florida. In addition to the helicopter memorial bearing Lassen’s name now situated outside Naval Base Coronado, there are buildings named after Lassen on Navy bases in Florida and Tennessee. There is also a veterans’ nursing home that bears his name in Florida.

SAN DIEGO (Jan. 26, 2025) – San Diego Wave FC today announced that it has agreed to a world-record transfer fee with Chelsea FC of the Women’s Super League (WSL) for U.S. Women’s National Team defender Naomi Girma. The transfer fee sets a new world record for women’s soccer, as well as new records for San Diego Wave FC and the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). 

“Naomi has been an integral part of the Club since the day she was drafted in the inaugural season, and her impact on and off the field has been immeasurable,” said Sporting Director and General Manager Camille Ashton. “While it’s difficult to part ways with a player of Naomi’s caliber, we are incredibly proud of all she has achieved during her time with us. She has set a high standard here, and we wish her nothing but success as she continues her career overseas. Our focus has been and will continue to be building a team to compete for championships.” 

Since being selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NWSL Draft, Girma has emerged as one of the world’s best defenders. In her rookie season, Girma made 27 appearances (27 starts) while playing every single minute for all matches she was available for the Wave. She registered 176 recoveries and led all league defenders in possession while earning 2022 NWSL Rookie and Defender of the Year honors, becoming the first in league history to secure two individual awards in a rookie season.

“San Diego Wave has been such an important part of my journey,” said Girma. “I’ll forever be thankful for the opportunities I’ve had to grow here and for the incredible relationships I’ve built with my teammates, the sporting staff, and our amazing fans. I’m especially grateful to ownership and Cami for supporting my dream of playing in Europe. San Diego will always hold a special place in my heart, and I wish nothing but the best for the team moving forward.”

During the 2023 season, Girma appeared in 22 matches (20 starts) across all competitions, helping the Club secure the NWSL Shield as the league’s top regular-season team. Her performance earned her the NWSL Defender of the Year award for the second consecutive season, making her the first player in league history to win the honor twice in her first two years. Girma was also named to the NWSL Best XI First Team for the second straight season, while completing 948 passes with an 88.68% accuracy rate, ranking among the top five in the league in both categories. 

Last season, Girma made 21 appearances (21 starts) for the Club, while earning a league-high 91.4% passing accuracy. She was named to the NWSL Best XI Second Team.  

At the international level, Girma has been a key member of the USWNT since making her debut in April 2022. She has earned 44 caps and scored two goals for the United States. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Girma played every minute of the tournament and anchored the defense that conceded just two goals across six matches to secure the gold medal. 

Transaction: San Diego Wave FC agrees to a world record transfer fee with Chelsea FC for defender Naomi Girma.

John Andrew Dalessandro

OBITUARY

John Andrew Dalessandro (February 24, 1946 – November 13, 2024) passed away in his San Diego area home, surrounded in love by his two daughters. John had suffered heart failure for many years and ultimately succumbed to its plight. John arrived in Del Mar in 1975 and had made it his home with his now-deceased wife of 52 years, Joyce. He had a long and successful career in mechanical engineering.

Originally from New York, John grew up in Maspeth, Queens in an Italian family. His love for engineering and technology became clear at a young age with his constant interest in disassembling, building, and fixing anything he could get his hands on. He attended Brooklyn Technical High School and went on to an undergraduate education at the Cooper Union. John continued on for his Ph.D. from Cornell University. It was there that he met and fell in love with Joyce.

After graduation John was recruited out of New York to California. John and Joyce were enchanted by San Diego on that first recruiting visit, and he began work at General Atomics fusion energy program shortly after. He later worked for General Dynamics on superconducting magnets and the Super Collider. Next he joined Archimedes Technologies to work on electromagnetics and reducing nuclear waste. His career came full circle, ending where it began. He once again was working at General Atomics in magnetic analysis. Projects included the Rail Gun and Aircraft Carrier pulse magnetic launch system. He was quiet and gentle, but proud of the work that he accomplished. John is remembered by his coworkers as the “best of them”–if John could not figure it out, no one could. John retired in 2021, after a long and successful career. After retirement, John continued to spend his free time in his favorite place doing his favorite thing, building and fixing in his garage.

John was an involved father to his daughters and grandfather to his 6 grandchildren. His legacy will live on with his many teachings to the family. His unparalleled strengths were both scientific and creative thinking. He was notorious for encouraging everyone to “think outside the box.”

A small family celebration of life was held over the Thanksgiving holiday time. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, friends and loved ones please consider donating to the Annual Fund for Engineering at his esteemed college, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, in his name, the same as he had done for his entire adult life: https://cooper.edu/.

John is survived by his daughters, Amy Kronk (husband Andrew Kronk) and Summer Dalessandro (husband Adam Vincent), as well as his six grandchildren: Audrey, Mia, and Bradley Kronk and Ali, Jack, and Talia Vincent who will uphold his memory by passing on the stories he shared and the values he lived by every day.