Had a friend (a MiG-killer too) who launched one day for a mission over North Vietnam. Before he ever went feet-dry, he called the ship desperately asking for permission to divert to Da Nang.
After several unanswered queries as to the "nature of his emergency," he finally answered in a loud voice, bluntly, "It's a personal emergency!" With that, he was finally given permission to divert.
However, not long after he had shifted frequencies, he returned back on the strike frequency. He stated he was now continuing on his original mission over the North.
When asked if he still needed to divert to Da Nang, he said it was, "too late for that now." While sitting in the unimaginable results of his personal emergency, he pressed on and completed his combat mission.
Later, we awarded him a Meritorious Brown Streaked Ribbon, complete with Combat "V".