Neil Armstrong parachute was blown back over land. A jeep driven by a roommate from flight school picked him up; it is unknown what happened to the wreckage of his aircraft, F9F-2 BuNo "125122". In all, Armstrong flew 78 missions over Korea for a total of 121 hours in the air, a third of them in January 1952, with the final mission on March 5, 1952. Of 492 U.S. Navy personnel killed in the Korean War, 27 of them were from the "Essex" on this war cruise. Armstrong received the Air Medal for 20 combat missions, two gold stars for the next
Neil Armstrong the letters should be written by people who knew the scout. (In 2003, he received 950 congratulation requests.) This contributed to the myth of his reclusiveness. Armstrong's family described him as a "reluctant American hero". Recalling Armstrong's humility, John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, told CNN: "[Armstrong] didn't feel that he should be out huckstering himself. He was a humble person, and that's the way he remained after his lunar flight, as well as before." Some former astronauts, including Glenn and Harrison Schmitt, sought political careers after leaving NASA; but although Armstrong was approached by groups from both