returns the camera to its rightful owner. that's a good place to end. isn't it today? thanks for being part of the real story. i'm jenna lee in for grep gretchen. shepard smith reporting live from the fox news deck. >> we're tracking many new developments in the disappearance of malaysia air flight 370 including word that somebody actually programmed the jet's flight computer to take that first sharp turn to the west. of course we don't know who punched in the change or exactly when. we'll hear from the reporter from the "new york times" who broke the story and from the malaysians. plenty of people have suggested this mystery is all part of a terrorist plot. but there are no facts to support that. do the signals even point toward pakistan? >> the pakistani government isn't saying anything. and why should they? because it means they're complicit. >> plus, newly released video from the captain's family and what we've learned about the co-pilot. we're also monitoring word from russia where president putin has signed a deal to claim crimea for moscow.

plus, a news chopper down in flames, and people are dead. it's a very busy news day. so let's get to it. >> announcer: now, "shepard smith reporting," live from the fox news desk. good tuesday to you and yours. first from the deck this afternoon, analysts say it could be the biggest clue yet about why that missing jumbo jet flew off course. according to the reporting of the "new york times" newspaper it wasn't off course at all. that's the course they programmed. somebody preprogrammed this new route before the jet's tracking systems went dark. that is a drastic change in the flight path that somebody planned before the pilots indicated to ground controllers that everything was just fine. according to the "times" report out today, the jet's computer sent information on the planned course change by 1:07 a.m. local time there. then 12 minutes later malaysian officials say the co-pilot radioed a routine sign-off to ground controllers saying all right, good night. no sign that anything at all was wrong. it was just one minute later at

1:20 a.m. that the plane's transponder went dark and the jet flew off course. that raises a big question for investigators. if somebody preprogrammed an unauthorized turn, why didn't the final words from the cockpit give some indication that something was wrong? analysts say it could be hard for the pilots to miss. somebody had to program that thing. it's right here. this is where you do it. and there's another one over there for the pilot and another one over here for the co-pilot. that computer's right between them. these are they. right here. analysts say only somebody with a lot of cockpit experience would know how to program a new course. but as we've seen in other bombshell reports, malaysian officials are saying the route change is really no big deal. >> that's a standard procedure. the aircraft was scheduled to fly to beijing. >> so this report in the "new york times" today is -- >> it could be speculation.

once you are in the aircraft, anything is possible. >> yeah, once you're in the aircraft, anything is possible. thanks so much for that. what is not speculation is that the jet did indeed take this drastic turn off the route. it went west. it wasn't supposed to. officials told "the new york times" it was that programming change that caused the jet to veer to the west and over part of thailand. think of this. so there he is. we know that it's going to take a leap up to 45,000 feet coming right up, right? so what if you make this change, you program in the change including going up to 45,000 feet, which would kill everybody because there's not enough oxygen in the back of the jet, and then the rest of your programming just takes you along and along with 230 people dead on board? it's a possibility. today the thai government revealed its radar did spot a plane moments after the jet went missing. spotted it going over thailand. as for -- i should say in the area but from a thai radar system. as for why it took so long for the release of this information, the thai officials say it's because nobody asked.

katherine is working the story from washington. it just gets weirder. what are we learning about the flight engineer? he'd been called a flight nerd. >> five remote -- on the 53-year-old pilot's flight simulator that was was recovered from his home in kuala lumpur. the remote landing soois reprogrammed into that simulator are said to include strips in the indian ocean, mailed yves, sri lanka and the u.s. based diego garcia and at the white house briefing an hour ago the suggestion that the plane could be on u.s. territory was dismissed outright. >> some news reports saying that the missing flight could have landed in the u.s. military base, diego garcia in the center of the indian ocean. do you rule in that or rule out that? >> i'll rule that one out. >> and while police in kuala lumpur telling reporters today

nothing suspicious was found at the pilot and co-pilot's homes, given the conflicting information released by malaysian authorities in the last 11 days there is now a credibility gap. and while the passengers are still under the microscope there is new reporting out of china that the stolen passports used by the two iranian men to board the flight were actually used last year by two different people who were applying for chinese visa, shep. >> is the united states getting cooperation in all this? >> well, the fbi has a team on the ground in malaysia and we understand they are getting better access to some of the raw data like the cockpit conversations between the pilots and ground controllers. and the goal according to a source not authorized to speak on the record is for u.s. investigators to reach their own independent assessment of the data. here in washington today the secretary of homeland security emphasized that malaysian authorities are in the lead and the disappearance of 370 has not altered security on flights inside or coming into the u.s. >> insofar as domestic flights are concerned, insofar as flights out of the united

states, and insofar as flights into the united states are concerned, we routinely check the interpol data base for stolen passports. >> what's clear from our reporting today is that the u.s. is taking on a larger role when it comes to a second review, or scrubbing of the available data on flight 370's final hour. so we're talking about the signals data from the satellite. we're talking about the civilian and military radar. and what we learned in the last few minutes is they've got analysts looking at how far that jet could fly even without power as they try to narrow down the trajectory of that path, shep. >> catherine herridge in washington. let's turn to michael schmidt now. mikesale one of the "new york times" reporters who wrote today's story about the preprogrammed course change. he's live in the "new york times" d.c. newsroom. michael, good to see you. if you so much. >> thanks for having me, shep. >> you heard the folks in malaysia saying this stuff is speculation. it's not, is it? >> well -- >> i read the report. it's not written as speculation.

>> no. i mean, based on what we know, this information was transmitted back down to the ground before the plane went off radar and it basically showed that whoever moved this plane had to have known what was -- how to operate a cockpit and this wasn't just someone who hijacked the plane, who tried to take it manually in a different direction. and because of that it sort of -- it focuses the attention back on the pilots or anyone else on the plane who knew how to operate a boeing flight like that. >> someone had a plan. and we've been reporting on these markers that pilots use there and all around the world as points of navigation. and one of those points of navigation was entered with seven keystrokes into this autopilot machine, no? >> yeah, what they're doing is they're looking at these different points to see if the plane hit those points. because if it was being manually operated it would be nearly impossible to hit those points. only a computer that was controlling the plane could have

done that. so the more points that it hits the longer that they can say that the plane was being controlled by this computer system. ultimately what does that mean? it provides a little insight for now, but otherwise, you know, i'm still a bit stumped. >> yes, i think we all are. and so are they. i'm curious. they told us the flight is believed to have gone up to some 45,000 feet, which is above where it's supposed to go. but we don't know exactly when. especially not in relation to this new revelation that somebody programmed it in on autopilot. do you have a sense for where we are now on that? >> well, it goes up above 40,000 feet and then it comes back down to around 20,000 feet. it shouldn't have been above 40,000 feet because that's not where those planes should be flying and the air is extremely thin. but it shouldn't have been as low as 20,000 feet either. so -- >> sorry for interrupting, michael. but what i actually meant was do we know if this ascent to 40,000 feet was because of this

programming you alluded to today or where it is on the timeline? because it seems to matter. >> we don't know whether it was the plane being programmed that brought it all the way up there. so these things don't help us. >> how much cooperation are you and your reporting teams at the "times" getting from malaysian officials? >> well, i think a lot of what's coming out of malaysia is the stuff that they're saying on the record at these press conferences. but what happened in the first week is that they didn't really say a lot and then they came out on saturday and they said a whole lot. and now they've kind of backtracked and gone different ways on things. and i think that by not talking for a week i don't think a lot of people have confidence in everything they're saying. >> yeah, i think from our twitter you're on point there. michael schmidt, the reporting is up now at newyorktimes.com. michael, it's nice to talk to you. thank you. >> thanks for having me. we'll have a lot more on the missing jet ahead. you'll hear from the military insider who says it's possible that the thing is in pakistan. why would we bring up pakistan in the middle of all this?

somebody actually believes that they have gone through this elaborate set of maneuvers so that we can -- whoever it is can land this jet in pakistan and use it as a weapon later. pakistan. we'll hear about that and talk through that in a moment. we'll also show you how the united states navy is using one of its most advanced airplanes to track that missing jet or try to find it at least. and in the light of all the recent developments and what we've learned about how this jet turned, we want to know what you think. what do you think happened? and all the people on board. i mean, is it possible that whoever programmed this in new flight path that we know was programmed in at the beginning of the instructions was go to 45,000 feet and kill us all, then fly low and fly till you run out of gas smsh oof gas som the middle of the ocean? was it like that? did a plane fly seven or eight hours filled with corpses a la paine stewart? tweet us @shepnewsteam. we'll read some of your comments

later in this news hour. ♪ ♪ ♪

he believes united states government officials foe more than they're letting on about the missing jet. u.s. investigators have

repeatedly said there is nothing to indicate terrorism, nothing. not a sincintilla of informatio. but the lieutenant general who's a fox news contributor says investigators should be looking for the jet in pakistan. he raises the possibility and only that that terrorists could be hiding the plane to use at a later date. >> we're starting to see indications that maybe it could be used for something else like -- and i'm speculating again. fill it up with munitions, attack a target, attack a carrier, attack israel, do something along the terrorist lines. >> general mcinerney said he was speculating. and he was. there's nothing it back up that theory, nothing at all. but investigators say the plane did have enough fuel to fly to pakistan. let's bring in christopher voss now, retired fbi agent, special agent who worked on the twa flight 800 investigation among others. nice to see you. thanks. >> thanks, shep. >> i'm not sure how productive it is for us to speculate on any of this. what we know is it's missing. do you have thoughts on this matter? >> at this point in the investigation and what we know,

i think as important as what we know is how we know it. i'd be going back and looking at each one of the different pieces of information and making sure that i hadn't made leaps that i shouldn't have made based on what we were told and exactly what the source was that we got it from. >> some of the things about which we're pretty confident at this moment based on where we got it and how it's come to us is it went high in the air, it went low in the air, that somebody programmed it to take a course that did not include beijing. of those things we're pretty confident. those things add up to any number of scenarios. >> and i think the first thing that it does is it begins to eliminate things. and there's a lot of speculation currently that there was some sort of fire aboard and -- >> no way. >> -- the plane moved. and that just doesn't add up with the preprogrammed information. >> you know what else doesn't add up? it doesn't add up that it would have hit anything, that there would have been anything viability. because if something violent happens like a crash into the water or a crash into the land or a fire, those systems

automatically go off. don't they? >> yes. exactly. unless somehow there was some sort of a water landing as opposed to a water crash. and the elt, if it was functioning, would have gone off. it should have gone off if it hit the water hard. >> so there's no violent water landing. we don't anticipate a sully sullenberger style hudson river landing is possible. after all, you're in the middle of the ocean. it's wavy out there. i don't know. what's left over is confusing and leads to all kinds of stuff i don't want to get into. you know? because i don't know anything. it just seems wrong. >> right. if you're running an investigation and you're a little perplexed at this point is where you really go back and take a look at what you missed and maybe you made some leaps that you should have made on what you were told early on. you really have to go back and source what you have. >> i mean, it's -- oh, yeah. thank you. it's very hard to imagine that this thing could have flown over land and not been noticed by

anybody. but now the folks in thailand come up today and say oh, yeah, we saw the thing in the air and forgot to tell you for 11 days. no clue. >> i think absolutely there's more radar data out there to be had. i think that's an indicator of more to be found in countries that either don't know they have it or they don't know how to figure out what they've got. >> it's nice to see you. thanks a lot. christopher voss live with us from washington. well, president vladimir put zinn shining his again today. coming up the response from the white house and what president putin has to say about take oohing parts of ukraine in addition. before we move on there's been a ukrainian soldier killed now. this has taken a turn. whether it's a turn for the unthinkable is another matter. but a ukrainian soldier is dead in a conflict, and that's the first time since this has happened. plus very sad news of a deadly crash when a news chopper goes down right outside a television station. this thing right in the shadow of the space needle in seattle.

the details of the komo crash. that's coming up. transferred mos bank of america savings account to his merrill edge retirement account. before he opened his first hot chocolate stand calling winter an "underserved season". and before he quit his friend's leaf-raking business for "not offering a 401k." larry knew the importance of preparing for retirement. that's why when the time came he counted on merrill edge to streamline his investing and help him plan for the road ahead. that's the power of streamlined connections. that's merrill edge and bank of america.

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21 minutes past the hour now. at least two people reported dead, another seriously hurt after a television news helicopter crashed right outside its own station in rush hour traffic. happened this morning in seattle. the chopper belonged to the local abc station komo, komo television. it slammed into several cars and burst into flames, as you can see. officials say both people on board that chopper died. firefighters put out the flames within half an hour, they tell us. all this happened right next to the space needle. rob has some more details on the location of this crash. i was seeing twit pics from all over the seattle area of this smoke rising right by the needle. i don't think at first, rob, people knew what was going on.

>> no. as you see right here, this is komo tv's station. and in the center of the screen now, this is the helipad. and the station reported it was lifting off and they might have hit the side of the building -- >> yeah, they call that the komo pad. >> and crashed right here. this is broad street. it hit two cars and a pickup truck on broad street. if you look how close that is to the space needle. just about a -- right across the street. two-minute walk. >> and it's my understanding that one person from the ground was taken to the hospital critical and that both people in the chopper were killed. broad street going to be closed at least into the night and the space needle closed all day too. >> correct. that's what i'm hearing last. >> some awful stuff out of there. our best to our friends at komo. one witness say he was on the 22nd floor of a nearby building when he saw that chopper. look here. >> it did a counterturn, or clockwi clockwise turn, maybe 80 degrees, and then went off and then the nose dove into -- kind of just went into a side nose dive to the street. i saw the whole street light up on fire, and a huge smoke cloud

come up and about 55 feet of gasoline fire. >> other witnesses say they saw a man running from one'll of the cars with his sleeve on fire. officers at the scene reportedly put out those flames. a hospital spokesman says the man suffered severe burns. the feds say they're investigating what may have caused this crash. and we expect more information later this afternoon. komo television has identified the man who died, the pilot gary fitsner. the other man was bill strofman, a former long-time komo photographer who had at the time been working for the helicopter's leasing company. and again, all the best to our colleagues and friends in seattle. there's words a ukrainian service member is dead now after gun nen stormed a military base in crimea. this is brand new. the ukrainian defense ministry now tells fox news the gunmen were wearing outfits similar to those of the russian military. they tried to negotiate with ukrainian commanders. then they started shooting. the defense ministry tells us the attackers took control of

that base and arrested ukrainian soldiers. this happened just hours after the russian president vladimir putin signed a treaty as he called it to make the krimian peninsula part of russia. he's also threatening to, quote, retalia retaliate, unquote against the united states for slapping financial punishments on top russian officials. over the weekend crimea held a held a referendum on whether to join russia. analysts say the voters really had no choice on that referendum. and surprise, according to president putin, more than 96% of those voted in favor of reuniting. today thousands of people from moscow to crimea gathered to watch president putin's speech at the kremlin. he said, and i quote, "in people's hearts and minds crimea has always been part of russia." he also claimed he does not plan to invade any other areas of ukraine. >> translator: don't believe those who scare you about russia, who say that other regions will follow after crimea. we don't want a division of ukraine. we don't need that. as for crimea, it was and will

remain the russian as well as the ukrainian and crimean tatarsdom. >> both houses of parliament have to sign off on the treaty. but they will. officials say that will happen next week. ed henry's with us from the white house. ed, the white house is making it clear they're not recognizing this annexation, whatever that's worth. >> that's right, shep. they're calling it an attempt at annexation. we don't want to give vladimir putin an inch on that point. and they're pushing back by sending vice president biden to poland, a key ally that as you know borders ukraine. he said today that the u.s. will be sending a dozen f-16 fighter jets to poland just to remind vladimir putin about the nato alliance in the region. and vice president biden went on to push back at vladimir putin over those remarks you just heard. listen. >> russia has offered a variety of arguments to justify what is nothing more than a land grab. including what was said today.

but the world has seen through, has seen through russia's action and has rejected the logic, the flawed logic behind those actions. >> and the administration certainly watching closely what you just reported about this apparent service member being shot and killed. fears of course here in the u.s. and around the world that that could escalate the situation quickly. >> no signs that vladimir put zinn going to back down at all. frankly, the russians seem to be mocking us. >> they are. you saw that signing ceremony today where, you know, vladimir putin seeming to stick a thumb in president obama's eye. then you've got russian officials who have been targeted by the u.s. sanctions that were announced yesterday, going on twitter and basically mocking the idea that these sanctions will work. look at this tweet from dimitri rogozin saying "i think some prankster prepared the draft of this act of the u.s. president,"

going on to say com madd barack obama what should do those who have neither accounts nor property abroad? or you didn't think about it? meaning these assets that are going to be frozen. jay carney would not bite on whether or not they believed these russian officials do have accounts here in the u.s., but when a reporter asked about the russian stock market coming back and that being a sign that sanctions by the u.s. and e.u. wouldn't work, jay carney said i wouldn't bet on investing in russian securities unless you want to short them. a little bit of a shot back from the u.s. on russia. >> ed henry on the north lawn. ed, thanks very much. let's get to jonathan tepperman now. he's the managing editor of "foreign affairs" magazine. now we've got a dead rainian soldier on the border. >> that's right. >> or on a base. >> that's right. we're in uncharted territory here and putin is acting unxwpdly. when i was on the show last week i confidently predicted he would stoch short of annexation. guess where we are now. that means he's prepared to do things that go way beyond what anyone expected and to suffer pain for doing it. what's happening with this fight

field goal it's true is that putin is now trying to provoke the russians -- excuse me, the ukraineians into responding. they've been remarkably restrained until now, holding their ground in crimea but refusing to be drawn into any kind of fighting with the russians to give them an excuse. >> when i was over there, there was an attack on a base in crimea. it was the same thing, using russian vehicles but troops who weren't dressed in fully russian costumes, as they put if there. and you never really figured out what was what. and there was a backdown. this time, though, shots were fired. and i wonder how long this peace is suss datainable. >> it's a good question. the problem for the ukrainians is they can't fight the russians. they're vastly outnumbered. something like 40,000 troops currently mobilized. they're trying to get more ready but they're not there yet. so their options are very limited. >> that's not to say that some of them won't fight. because it doesn't take many to kick this thing off. if one firecracker xwoez off in a package they're all going up. and if this goes up we have a

new problem. so what do we do? if you're the united states government or the west, what do you do? >> you tell the ukrainians in as firm terms as you can to stand down, to not give the russians the provocation they're looking for. if the fighting really starts in earnest we have a bigger problem and that's that our options are limited. we're not going into vad militarily. i can't imagine any circumstances if we are. >> there's in one region and town called donetsk in the east of ukraine. i've said from the beginning if something's going to happen it's going to happen there. and if there is some conflict there and it spreads and it could, then i'm not sure where it goes. as you said, uncharted territory. but i'm not sure what the right actions and counteractions are. >> i think what we see is a bigger russian operation to carve off a bigger piece of ukraine. the difference between western ukraine -- eastern ukraine even donetsk, which has russian speakers in it, is it also has a lot more ukrainians than crimea does and a lot of ukrainian nationalists. even many of these russian speakers don't want to become part russia. this is a much tougher morsel

for peoputin to chew than crime would have been. >> we know putin wanted his warm water port in the black sea. do we know anything about what he wants? >> the objective is to weaken the nuke rabian government which is pro western as much as possible. he's going to keep trying to chip and chip away at their authority until they are as feeble as possible. ultimately he would like them to turn away from the west and back toward russia. the ukrainian government haid some conciliatory gestures in the last day or two. they announced today they wouldn't be joining nateo, for example, which is a big red line for the russians. but that's not clear it's going to appease putin. >> people especially in the west of ukraine, kiev and beyond, there are a lot of young people there. >> that's right. >> and they're all very western. they all want to be a part of this european experience. it's all they talked about when we were there. we don't want russia. we want new ways of europe. and if this thing, push comes to shove, i wonder what these groups -- this group of at one point organized people might do. >> it's a good question. and i think it'sing?

that kiev is now very frightened of because you have all these radical groups which were part of the revolution and you have armed militias that the government itself can't control. so maybe the real risk of provocation is not something the ukrainian military proper will do but these armed bands that take the law into their own hands. >> eventually we'll get down to where this all began, and that is with snipers on roofs of buildings and on a police call. some of these snipers killed people on both sides of the aisle. many people were shot in the heart. and there are all kinds of questions about who these snipers were, whose side they were on, and who sent them. and young people in kiev have their own answers about this. ones i can't give because i don't know the fkts here. they he think they know. they think vladimir putin did it. they're very vocal about it. >> that's understandable. but it will be a long time before we know exactly what happened. >> jonathan, nice to see you. >> you too. >> coming up more on the missing malaysian airlines jet. what we're learning about the pilots and the video that the captain's family put together to defend him. plus, with no luck by sea

the u.s. navy is turning to the air for more help. we'll show you the state-of-the-art aircraft that the united states military is now sending. we're approaching the bottom of the hour. we just hit it. time for the top of the news right after this. 24/7. i'm sorry, i'm just really reluctant to try new things. really? what's wrong with trying new things? look! mommy's new vacuum! (cat screech) you feel that in your muscles? i do... drink water. it's a long story. well, not having branches let's us give you great rates and service. i'd like that. a new way to bank. a better way to save. ally bank. your money needs an ally. if you have a buness idea, we have a personalized legal solution that's right for you.

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so you can keep enjoying life. [ apple crunches ] fixodent. and forget it. the defense grilled a police photographer in the murder trial of the blade runner, oscar pistorius today. he just keeps crying. that photographer admitted investigators apparently moved some evidence inside the athlete's home. oscar pistorius says he shot and killed his girlfriend by accident because he thought she was an intruder. of course the prosecutors there call it murder. the u.s. has ordered all syrian diplomats to leave the country unless they're american citizens or permanent residents. it comes as the syrian civil war enters its fourth year. and a woman has filed the ed to last week's explosion that brought down two buildings in new york city. she said the blast knocked her over causing what she called

permanent injuries. she's accusing the energy company coned and one of the building owners of negligence. so far no comment from the building's owners or con edd. city officials say eight people died. dozens more were hurt. 10 gigs. all for $160 dollars a month. you know, i think our family really needed this. it's really gonna bring us closer together. yep. yep. yep. yep. yep. yep. introducing our best-ever family pricing for instance, a family of four gets 10 gigs of data with unlimited talk and text for 160 dollars a month. only from at&t. breaking news. the president giving the medal of honor to 24 vets from three different wars. he's just walked to the podium. we did not want you to miss this. a tribute to our heroes. so listen.

>> as one family member has said, this is long overdue. many of these families -- and i had a chance to meet all of them who are present here today. they've known these stories of heroism for decades. still, they were pretty surprised when we called them to break the news about the medal of honor. some of them thought it was a prank. some of them thought it was a scam. a few of them thought it might be some trick to get their credit card number. when i called melvin morris, who we'll recognize for a moment for his actions in vietnam, his first reaction was "oh, my god. what have i done?" when i told him it was all good, the medal of honor, i could hear through the phone he almost

passed out. you see, for their gallantry under fire, each of these soldiers was long ago recognized with the army's second highest award, the distinguished service cross. but ask their fellow veterans, ask their families, and they'll tell you that their extraordinary deeds merited the highest recognition. and today we have the chance to set the record straight. this ceremony reminds us of one of the enduring qualities that makes america great, that makes us exceptional. no nation is perfect. but here in america we confront our imperfections and face a sometimes painful past. including the truth that some of these soldiers fought and died for a country that did not always see them as equal.

so with each generation we keep on striving to live up to our ideals of freedom and equality and to recognize the dignity and patriotism of every person, no matter who they are, what they look like, or how they pray. and that's why more than a decade ago congress mandated a review to make sure that the heroism of our veterans wasn't overlooked because of prejudice or discrimination. our military reviewed thousands of war records. they teamed up with veterans groups and museums to get this right. it was painstaking work made even harder because sometimes our service members felt as if they needed to change their last names to fit in. that tells a story about our past. but ultimately, after years of review, these two dozen soldiers, among them hispanic, african-american, and jewish veterans, were identified as having earned the medal of

honor. this is the length to which america will go to make sure everyone who serves under our proud flag receives the thanks that they deserve. so this is going to be a long ceremony. we're going to read all 24 citations. because every one is a story of bravery that deserves to be told. but first i want to take just a few minutes to describe the americans behind these actions. the men these families know. the brilliant lives behind the smiling faces in those old photographs, and how they reflected all the beauty and diversity of the country that they served. they were americans by birth and americans by choice. immigrants. including one who was not yet even a citizen. they grew up in big city neighborhoods like brooklyn, rural communities like hoopford, nebraska, small towns like

puerto rico. they loved to fish and play baseball. they were sons who made their parents proud and brothers who their siblings looked up to. they were so young, many in their early 20s. and when their country went to war they answered the call. they put on the uniform and hugged their families good-bye. some of them hugged the wives and children that they'd never see again. they fought in the rocky hills of italy, the blood-stained beaches of france, and the freezing mountains of korea, the human jungles of vietnam. their courage almost defies imagination. when you read the records of these individuals, it's unimaginable the valor that they displayed. running into bullets, charging machine gun nests and climbing

aboard tanks and taking them out. covering their comrades so they could make it to safety. holding back enemies, wave after wave, even when the combat was hand to hand. manning their posts, some to their very last breaths, so that their comrades might live. of the 24 american soldiers we honor today, ten never came home. one of them, corporal joe balanced nado from the korean war, is still missing, reminding us that as a nation we have a sacred obligation to keep working to give the families of our missing service members from all wars a full accounting of their loved ones. through their grief the families of our fallen summon the strength to carry on. wives whose hearts ached for their his ban their husbands. sons and daughters who grew up

without their dad. nieces and nephews and grandchildren. these families join us here today. and they know more than most that because others laid down their lives for us we've been able to live our lives in freedom, pursue our dreams. so there's a legacy here. born of sacrifice. that includes a soldier's nephew, a kid from new york who grew up to become one of the great rock stars of all time and who honors his uncle here today. it includes soldiers who came home and took different paths. some continue to serve in uniform. some beginning new careers. some getting married and raising their kids, serving their communities, taking care of their fellow vets. these veterans lived out their lives in the country they helped to defend and doing what they love. like william leonard, who at age 71 passed away in his back yard

sitting in his chair listening to his beloved yankees play out on the radio. and that's where the story might have ended. but mitchell woodman, a friend of one of these soldiers and an army vet himself, set out on a mission. he and his wife marilyn spent years writing letters and working with congress and our military to get this done. and so we thank all those who worked so hard for so long to bring us to this moment, especially marilyn and mitchell, now 83 years old, who i'd ask to stand so that we can all say thank you. [ applause ] finally, of these 24 soldiers,

three remain with us and have joined us here today. men who remind us that sometimes the heroes we seek are right in front of us. literally living right next door. most days you can find jose rodela in his san antonio home, 76-year-old retiree who enjoys watching baseball on tv and working on his 1975 chevy pickup, and mowing the grass for his neighbors. joe is such a humble guy. jose is such a humble guy that he did not even mention the ceremony to his neighbors. who i think would be pretty shocked to turn on the news tonight and see that the guy who cuts their lawn's getting the medal of honor. today we remember how

32-year-old sergeant first class rodela fought through his wounds in vietnam and rallied his man during 18 hours of constant combat. most days you can find melvin morris at home in port st. john, florida. 72 years old. a retired salesman and a great grandfather. you'll find him working on his boat, going fishing, reading the bible, spending time with his beautiful wife, mary. married 53 years this month. you're going to have to give me some tips. we're not that far along yet. today we remember how 27-year-old staff sergeant morris, one of our nation's very first green berets -- one of our very first green berets. think about that. that's legendary. how staff sergeant morris recovered a fallen comrade in

vietnam, took out several enemy bunkers, and kept going even after he was shot three times. and on most days you can find santiago erevia at home in san antonio. he's a 68-year-old retired postal worker. he's fixing up his house typically, tending to the garden, going on walks with his wife, or doing some push-ups to stay in shape. today we remember how 23-year-old specialist 4 erevia, under a hail of bullets in vietnam, gave first aid to his wounded comrades and single-handedly destroyed four enemy bunkers. these are extraordinary americans. they are exemplary soldiers. and so i want to begin by

welcoming santiago erevia to the stage for the reading of the citation. >> specialist 4 santiago j.erevia, united states army. the president of the united states of america, authorized by act of congress march 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor to specialist 4 santiago j.erevia, united states army for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of his life abofr and beyond the call of duty. specialist 4 sanity yag a&e j. erevia distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a radio and telephone operator in

company c first baa tallian air mobile 501st air infantry, 101st airborne division air mobile during search and clear missions near tam ky, republic of vietnam on may 21, 1969. after breaching a perimeter specialist 4 erevia was designated by his platoon leader to render aid to several casualties and the rest of the platoon move forward. as he was doing so he came under intense hostile fire from four bunkers to his left front. although he could have taken cover with the rest of the element, he chose a retaliatory course of action. with heavy enemy fire directed at him, he moved in full view of the hostile gunners as he proceeded to crawl from one wounded man to another, gathering ammunition. armed with two m-16 rifles and several hand grenades he charged toward the enemy position behind the suppressive fire of the two rifles. under very intense fire he continued to advance on the insurgents until he was near the first bunker. disregarding the enemy fire, he pulled the pin from a hand

grenade and advanced on the bunker, leveling suppressive fire until he could drop the grenade into the bunker, mortally wounding the insurgent and destroying the fortification. without hesitation, he employed identical tactics as he proceeded to eliminate the next two enemy positions. with the destruction of the third bunker, specialist 4 erevia had exhausted his supply of hand grenades. still under intense fire from the fourth position, he courageously charged forward behind the fire emitted by his m-16 rifles. arriving at the very edge of the bunker, he silenced the occupant within the fortification at point blank range. through his heroic actions, the lives of the wounded were saved and the members of the company command post were relieved from a very precarious situation. his exemplary performance in the face of overwhelming danger was an inspiration to his entire company and contributed immeasurably to the success of the mission. specialist 4 e he revia's

conspicuous gallantry, extraordinary heroism and intrendity at risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty were in keeping with the best military traditions of service and reflected well upon himself, his unit, and the united states army. [ applause ]

>> sergeant first class melvin morse. sergeant first class melvin morris distinguished himself by acts of gallantry above and beyond the call of duty while serving as commander of a strike force drawn from company d fifth special forces group airborne, first special forces during combat operations against an armed enemy in the republic of vietnam on september 17, 1969. on that afternoon staff sergeant morris' affiliated company encountered extensive enemy minefields and were engaged by a has file force. the staff sergeant learned a commander had been killed by an

enemy bunker and then advanced forward and split off with two men to recover the team commander's body. observing the maneuver, the hostile force concentrated its fire on staff sergeant morris' three-man element and successfully wound both men accompanying him. after assisting the two wounded back to forces line staff sergeant morris charged forward into enemy fire with only his men's suppressive fire as cover. while enemy machine gun emplacements continuously directed fusillade against him staff sergeant morris destroyed the positions with hand grenades and continued the assault, ultimately eliminating four bunkers. upon reaching the nearest bunker staff sergeant morris retrieved the enemy and got his comrade and returned behind enemy lines. he was injured three times and ultimately received by returning his comrade at the end of the

mission. this is in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and credit upon himself, his unit and the united states army. [ applause ] >> master sergeant first class jose rodella.

master sergeant jose rodella distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a company commander detachment b 36 company "a" fire fighter is advice airborne during combat operations against an armed enemy in the republic of vietnam on september 1, 1969. that afternoon master sarjeant rodella's battalion came under an intense barrage of mortar, rocket and machine gunfire. ignoring the withering enemy fire he immediately began placing his men into defensive positions to prevent the enemy from overrunning the entire battalion. repeatedly exposing himself to enemy fire, master sergeant

rodella moved from position to position providing suppressing fire and assisting wounded and was himself wounded in the back and head by a b-40 rocket while recovering a wounded comrade. alone, master sergeant rodella assaulted and knocked out the b-40 rocket positions before successfully returning to the battalion's perimeter. master sergeant rodella's stroortd heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the united states army. [ applause ]

>> i just want to ask santiago and melvin to return to the stage, please. this is a remarkable moment, and as they come up i'd like to recall -- as they take their positions, i'd like to recall the words of a poet. though much is taken, much abides, and though we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are. when uniwall temper of heroic hearts made weak by time and faith and strong and will to strive to seek, to find and not to yield, santiago arriva,

melvin morris, jose rodella in the thick of the fight all those years ago, for your comrades and your country, you refused to yield, and on behalf of a grateful nation we all want to thank you for inspiring us, then and now, with your strength, your will and your heroic hearts. please give them a big round of applause.

gentlemen, thank you. please take your seats. we'll proceed with the rest of the ceremony. >> thank you. >> well, an extraordinary event for three extraordinary men and american heros. our wendall goler works the white house for us on the north lawn. i love seeing these things. >> reporter: shepherd, it's amazing. the three guys, the only ones to receive the medal of honor in today's ceremony, 24 medals being given. the rest being given posthumously, but it really is an amazing story. the two world wars, world war i and world war ii were long over before the army started to look at why no black soldiers had been given the medal of honor in

either of them. there were black soldiers given the medal of honor in the civil war. on 1988, a study determined racial prejudice was the reason. the first black world war i vet was given the medal of honor in 1991, and in 1997 the first black world war ii vet was honored with the nation's highest military award. today, of course, the largest ceremony, in fact, in all the history of this medal. 24 people receiving medals of honor here. we heard the president talk about staff sergeant melvis morris who received his medal for actions in vietnam in '69 when he was shot three times, recovering the body of a wounded comrade. he says that he feels good about today. he says a national wrong is being righted today, an oversight being looked at now. we're not perfect, he says, but someone stepped up to the plate. shepherd. >> indeed they did. thanks. i can't help but wonder if somewhere out in the hills of

afghanistan or on the deserts of iraq or somewhere around this world another american hero is waiting for the day to step on that very stage. for all of us at fox news, we have not forgotten with you there, and the we're forever grateful to you. in the meantime, we've got march madness and got it back. only this time it is the media celebrating the latest enrollment numbers on obamacare. 5 million people signing up to the affordable care act so far. it does sound great until we started doing a little dig, and let's just say not quite the big news the administration is crowing. welcome, everybody, i'm neil cavuto and even we thought timing was odd. in the middle of our own march madness bracket on why folks are not signing up for obamacare, the administration releasing that news that 5 million just had, only those 5 million, that number, it's