Heroes

Jarhead John posted this regarding childhood role models. When I was growing up, there was a severe lack of heroes. I can only think of one.

My Father always did right by me and is a good man. I've always been proud of him and now I have one more reason.

I went ahead and removed his name for privacy reasons and because the commendation is now under review. For simplicity sake my dad's name is changed to "Sergeant S."

Sergeant S. (then Sp4c) US Army Company D, 1st Battalion(Airborne) 503 Infantry 173d Airborne Brigade (Separate) Place and date: KontumProvince Republic of Vietnam, 3 March 1968

Citation: for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sergeant S. distinguished himself while serving as a M60 machine gunner with company D during combat operations. D company while patrolling up a hill in the central highlands came under very heavy and intense fire from a large force of North Vietnamese Army regulars.

The initial volley of fire from automatic and crew served weapons killed or wounded all the men on the point fire team as well as wounding the company commander. The enemy had dug in where the ridge narrowed greatly and then fell off steeply on both sides. D company returned fire to the flanks and up into the forward trees, but could not put effective on the dug in enemy because of the risk of hitting their own wounded.

Exposing himself to withering enemy fire, Sergeant S., with his gun team behind him, crawled forward to a position beyond the point element and immediately engaged the enemy. Sergeant S. Moved to within 15 yards of the dug in enemy and his covering fire allowed other men in his platoon to reach their fallen comrades and begin returning them to the center of the company perimeter where medics treated their wounds.

The enemy while continuing to fire from their dug in positions, mortared D company's front perimeter.This resulted in more casualties. Some of the men in D company pulled back during the mortar attack but Sergeant S. refused to withdraw. His covering fire allowed for additional trips by members of his platoon to retrieve all the killed and wounded.

The North Vietnamese soldiers were seen to be firing their weapons by lifting their guns without raising their heads resulting in their fire not being effective.The NVA attempted to send a force down the hill to reinforce their positions.
Sergeant S. fired upon and dropped the two lead NVA soldiers coming down the hill and afterwards no further attempts were made by the NVA. Sergeant S. was shot through the upper right arm knocking him back from his gun. He crawled back up to his machine gun and continued firing. All of the other wounded had been taken back to the center of the perimeter, but Sergeant S. refused to leave his position.

Sergeant S. ran out of ammunition when his ammo bearer was unable to bring more due to intense enemy fire. Sergeant S. then noticed NVA soldiers attempting to move past his position on the right to flank D company. S. then picked up an M16 rifle left by a fallen soldier and stopped the NVA from advancing on his right. Using a bandolier of M-16 rifle ammunition, Sergeant S. continued to put down suppressive fire to his front. By this time S.'s right arm had seized up and was useless. In order to reload the M-16 rifle with one arm he got into a sitting position and braced the rifle on his leg to remove and insert a fresh magazine while he was still only 15 yards from the NVA position.

Only when he was relieved up front by C Company did he allow himself to be evacuated to the center of the perimeter to be treated. Sergeant S's actions allowed the complete extraction under fire of all D companies dead and wounded and prevented effective fire on those doing the extraction. Upon arrival at the battalion perimeter S. was put on a medivac helicopter. Before the helicopter could leave another casualty was brought to the landing zone. Sergeant S. got out of the helicopter that was full to allow the other soldier to be medivaced out first.

Sergeant S's extraordinary heroism in action at the risk of his life were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the U.S. Army