Membership: Railroad/Kentucky Freedom Fighters/Horsemen/Harbingers/Sons of Liberty
Race: Human
Height: 5’3
Weight: 160
Apparent Age: 70+
Archetype: Unknown
Preferred Weapon: Serrated Sabre
Runner Song:
Bio:
“All Rise, The Honorable Judge Wendell Flanigan Now Presiding.” Well when we normally report on a judge connected to the Sons of Liberty it is all bad……and for good reason as they are are corrupt as they come or as strict as the law allows; now this is not the case for Judge Flanigan here. This senior judge for the Hopkinsville Kentucky sits within the cities Superior Court System and has become known as the Kind Heart One or the Judge of the People as he simply follows the law and gives every defendant the benefit of legal council even if they come without one. He will dismiss cases that he feels are unjust or ones that walk the grey line of legality, many citizens pray they will be brought before Judge Wendell seeing he makes sure fines are affordable, penalties are just and fair and punishments are balanced to the crime committed.
Judge Wendell has been within the legal profession since his retirement from the 401st in 2015 when he was severely injured do to a parachuting accident; Judge Wendell was part of counter terror strike into Iran that was meant to disable the countries nuclear program and remove the siting president that was openly part of a radical Islamic Regime (ISIS). Judge Wendell was a team leader and when his shoot failed to open and his reserve deployed in the nick of time he would hit the earth at a high rate of speed and shatter both of his legs , hips and pelvis in the process. Now for Wendell this was only the start of a very painful and nearly life ending situation, do to leaks within the United Nations his teams movements and location had been sent to the terrorists and they where waiting for Wendell and his Delta Team. The second they touched down they became engaged by the enemy and under heavy fire, Wendell in extreme pain would continue to command his men and ask simply to be rolled over so he can lay down suppressive fire in hopes to spare a few of his men from capture or death. Wendell had given the order for his men to retreat and leave him for the vultures as he figured he was already dead from the many compound fractures and gunshot wounds he had already received.
Wendell’s men refused to leave and stayed to cover their Captain and decreed they all die or they all get out, leave no man behind. All seemed bleak for Wendell and Delta Team till Bravo Team and Alpha Team emerged from the horizon with Echo Team raining death from above. Echo Team commander Captain Dover Barton would suffer a similar fate as his shoot would fail to open and he would slam into the ground at high speeds yet the stubborn Barton refused to die nor give up even with many of his bones shattered he would aid in the counter strike from a prone position to lend cover for Delta Team. Bravo Team commanded by 1st Lt. Wilhuff Palpatine would come in from the eastern flank with Alpha Team commanded by Staff Sargent Tudor Yates would enter the fray from the western flank thus shoring up the 401st tactical weakness. The would fight on through the day and into the night before NATO would send in the choppers to pick up the wounded and dead, these men would fight and hold their ground for nearly 36 hours deep in the Iranian Desert and Hills, the heat was scorching during the day and frigid come nightfall, yet from July 15th through 16th 2015 these men held there ground and fought proudly.
Reports indicate that Alpha Team lost 4 out of 12 men, Bravo Team lost 6 out of 12, Delta Team lost 10 out of 12 and Echo Team lost 8 out of 12 with two of those loses coming from equipment failures; there overall mission was a failure and many inquiries would be opened by the United States and United Kingdom governments on the internal leaks and continued equipment failures of the 401st. Seeing Wendell and Dover where the most recent in a long line of 401st that would be either retired or severely injured by there shoots not opening; Alva Palpatine, Bail Canterbury, Grifter Antilles, Wilhuff Palpatine, Chelcie Court, Abbot Malone, Dwight Schwartz, and many others just within the 401st a Airborne Unit. This trend was not unique to the 401st as the 82nd Airborne would as well suffer similar equipment malfunctions most notably Arthur Rummy, Oakley Roper, Reverdy Jamestown, Arthur Murdock, and Stanley Rodgers with multiple others suffering a similar fate; now some of the 82nd like the 401st would not be retired by the accident but they would be sidelined from the injuries received for some time.
Wendell here would go on to survive his ordeal and end up fully retired from active service do to the injuries received as he needed to use a cane and suffered extreme back and nerve pain from the crash landing, his entire spine ended up being fused, his hips replaced, his pelvis reconstructed with screws and plates, and bars and screws line his legs, ankles and feet. He needed a metal plate in his orbital socket and to have his ribs wired together. Not to mention the bullet wounds that riddled his body and the many reconstructive surgeries for his hands, wrists and ankles….Wendell was in the hospital for over a year and then dumped back into the civilian world unceremoniously and without pay, awards or pension.
Wendell would have to hock his 401st gear to pay for a bus ticket back to his hometown of Madisonville Kentucky where he would simply end up living on the street as he had been evicted from his apartment and his wife left him for his best friend taking the children with her. Wendell would never get to see his three sons and daughter again but yet be forced to pay his cheating wife child support and alimony further bankrupting the poor wounded veteran. Though for Wendell he would not allow this to keep him down and he would rise from the ashes, taking a job as a paralegal for his friend Brook Mansfield to pay the child support and alimony; he would end up living within on of Mansfield’s empty apartment units as he saved his money to go to law school. Mansfield would end up simply fronting the money for Wendell’s continued education and within four years Wendell graduated remotely from Harvard Law School with honours and would pass the bar exam on the first try.
Even though I stated he entered the legal profession in 2015 that is a bit off, as he officially became a lawyer August 20th 2020 and would go to work for the Frankfort Prosecutors Office, he would rise through the ranks quickly as he proved himself as a fierce attorney and one that cared about the law yet as well cared for the people. He would never throw the book at a defendant and always listen the circumstances regarding the criminal infraction, through his 20 years as a prosecutor he only argued four capital cases and would simply request sentencing leniency whenever possible.
Wendell is a master of reading people and can tell when someone is being dishonest, insincere or downright unemphatic; this skill would only grow through his legal career and help him rise to the top of the legal profession for Kentucky when he would be appointed the State Attorney General for Kentucky in 2045 where he would continue to be the voice of the people and defender of liberty and justice. Wendell would become the voice for racial equality and the demilitarising of the police force, even as the top cop and lawyer he still worked to aid the people and never once allowed his views, politics and religion to interfere within his cases. He simply relied on his instincts, training and know how to read the defendants and even when he had to decree the case a death penalty case he gave it the same gumption as he would a petty theft case.
Wendell would be both feared and loved in the legal system as he didn’t put up with dingo poop as he put it and he would simply argue a case on it’s merits and enforce strict rules on his state attorneys for them to never pursue a case for political gain, never ague a case is the evidence was week and never target a suspect simply do the colour of there skin, size of their bank account, sexuality or religion. Everyone deserves justice and the rights bestowed onto them by the Constitution is the motto Wendell lives by and this has helped him professionally, Wendell would sit as the State Attorney General from 2045 till 2053 when he would be nominated to sit on the Hopkinsville 3rd District Superior Court and with an unanimous consent vote he was officially appointed to the bench by the state assembly on October 30th 2053 and this is where he has remained ever since.
Now Wendell has some more going on with his past and in his life that we have come to learn, first off this bothers me greatly and makes my blood boil; Judge Wendell was arrested in 2060 for Stolen Valour when he was the Grand Marshall of the Hopkinsville Memorial Day Parade as he marched proudly within his US Army Uniform with his VFW cover on proudly showing the patches for Civil War, Spanish American War, World War One, World War Two, Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm; his breast lightly decorated and from what I read it should be very heavy with awards and the rank of Colonel on his collar; he wore the sash of the 401st and had the unit patch on his sleeve of the 82nd and was flanked by a colour guard flying the flags of the 1st Kentucky Cavalry Regiment and the 1st Rough Riders. Judge Wendell is a member of the Federal Immortality Project (FIP) and has served the nation proudly since 1850 and only retired after Desert Storm when he would be nearly killed when he was shot multiple times by Iraqi soldiers and would end up having his leg run over by an American tank. He would go onto recover from that near fatal injury to join the 401st in 2001, during his ten years of retirement he would get married to young women living next door to him that he meet at a church function and would go to raise four children with well till she left him for his business partner; he would receive his GED and a bachelors of Criminal Justice and a masters in Criminology where he would work as a licensed Criminologist for the Madisonville Police Department till 2001 when his life would change once more.
Wendell has more right than anyone to wear his uniform, rank, patches and medals and march in a memorial day parade; he is the beloved veteran of Hopkinsville but for some reason the FBI would decree that he was lying about his military service and would swoop in and remove the proud veteran in handcuffs claiming he was an impersonator and that he hadn’t served a single day in uniform. This would lead to a multiple year legal battle in Frankfort where he would have to verify his military service and recount terrifying accounts of battles from the Battle of Antietam, Battle of Gettysburg, Battle of Bull Run, Battle of Vicksburg, Battle of San Juan Hill, Battle of the Somme, Battle of the Bulge, Normandy Invasion, and many many more throughout his esteemed military career…… Judge Wendell is brutally honest and during his recounting of the bloodiest battle in human history “The Battle of the Somme July 1st 1916- November 18th 1916 he had many in the courtroom turning green as he described the sights, sounds and smells of the engagement; he as well described his wounds and how he simply prayed for death many times throughout the multiple month battle that he was forced to remain at the front till he couldn’t physically support himself anymore and would be ushered to medical only to be patched up and shipped back to the front.
Wendell would provide mission and action records for each conflict including diary entries from his personal civil war journals and other soldiers within the Kentucky First that speak of Wendell Flanigan. and after a year of testimony and hearings his case would be dismissed with prejudice and Wendell would be awarded the Key of Frankfort for his honourable service and would receive a very public apology from the Frankfort FBI. Good old Wendell would dust of his shoulders and get back to work without missing a beat, though everyone who knew Wendell could see the entire ordeal took it’s toll on the old judge; he became much more reserved and wouldn’t speak of his service to anyone outside of the VFW or Elks halls and even staying silent during his American Legion meetings and withdrawing from the leadership of the Legion. He simply went about his day and prayed for death to take him in his sleep, the FBI had shattered this noble man and the ordeal had destroyed the patriotism and pride that burned in his heart.
It would take many years for Wendell to seek help for his ever growing depression and the PTSD that he suffered from, exposing that his time in the service wasn’t all sunshine and lollipops; reporting that he had been mistreated from the second he was given the injection and besides his extreme war injuries that where poorly cared for, he was expected to continue fighting without question even through gunshot wounds, broken bones and stab wounds. He had been gassed to high hell in multiple wars, taken prisoner and rescue never came where he endured great torture including being nearly hanged to death by the Nazi’s a noose scar he hides under his collar and tie. He reports that he was physically abused by his own government, forced to endure extreme torture, sleep deprivation, starvation and nearly dying from dehydration. He was injected with blood thinners to test heat resistance and even was forced to endure having his hand shattered for the doctors to test orthopaedic surgery and installing the new metal surgical screws and rods. He even reported that he would forced to sexually raped by his commanding officers when on deployment, and have many of his teeth pulled to see if that would be a worthy form of torture. He wanted to retire and leave the service but he was forbidden and every time he would put in his papers they were rejected and he was simply given a promotion or his re-up papers forged and it was back into the saddle again.
This man went through hell and back and for him to willingly join the 401st shows how much heart he really has and what type of man Judge Wendell is. One that is full of honour and pride, a man that is only surpasses Rusty Rutherford in combat actions with nearly 400 battles under his belt and 150 combat injuries to date and not one given it’s proper accolade; this man put his life on the line numerous times for his fellow soldier and served the Cavalry from 1850 through 1942 when he would join the 82nd Airborne and the rest is history.
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