Congressional Medal Of Honor

[ScriptOhio]

Army Capt. Gary Rose, risked his life to save others in Vietnam War, awarded Medal of Honor

Officially, retired Army Capt. Gary “Mike” Rose was never in Laos at the height of the Vietnam War.

Rose, now 69, served as a medic in the Military Assistance Command Studies and Observations Group, an elite division of the Special Forces. It was so secret that, for more than four decades, he never spoke about it to anyone – not even the people he served with.

Those that served with him, however, never forgot the bravery he showed during a four-day mission, called “Operation Tailwind,” in the landlocked country in September 1970.

Rose, then a sergeant, ran through a hail of gunfire to treat more than 50 soldiers who were fighting the North Vietnamese Army – using one hand to hoist wounded men onto his back while he fired on the enemy with his other hand.

In spite of his own injuries, he didn’t sleep for days to make sure all 16 American soldiers deployed with him made it home.

They did.

Forty-seven years later, his heroism was commemorated on Monday when he received the Medal of Honor during a special ceremony with President Trump at the White House.

Entire article: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/10/2...others-in-vietnam-war-to-get-medal-honor.html

 

[ScriptOhio]

Trump awards Medal of Honor to 'titan' Vietnam combat medic

The road to the Medal of Honor is never quick or easy, but for former Spc. Jim McCloughan, it took two days of unrelenting fire, 10 lives saved, 48 years and an intervention by Congress to get here.

President Trump draped the military’s highest award around the Vietnam combat medic’s neck Monday in a ceremony at the White House.

“For over two centuries, our brave men and women in uniform have overcome tyranny, fascism, communism, and every single threat – they’ve overcome,” Trump said. ”And we’ve overcome these threats because of titans like Jim, whose spirit could never be conquered.”

McCloughan, 71, was joined by 10 battle buddies from C Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry, 196th Light Infantry Brigade, Americal Division, whom Trump asked to stand and be recognized with a round of applause.

“Today, to 320 million grateful American hearts, [he] carries one title, and that title is ‘hero,’ “ Trump said.

The ceremony was attended by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, Sergeant Major of the Army Dan Dailey and Defense Secretary James Mattis, as well as Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Nadja West and the White House chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly.



Entire article: https://www.armytimes.com/news/your...medal-of-honor-to-titan-vietnam-combat-medic/

 

[ScriptOhio]

Trump awards Medal of Honor to former Navy SEAL for 'daring assault' in Afghanistan

President Donald Trump awarded a former member of the Navy's SEAL Team Six with the Medal of Honor Thursday for an attempted rescue of his teammate on a mountainside in Afghanistan.

Seven of Slabinski's teammates were present at the White House ceremony on Thursday.



Entire article: https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-award-medal-honor-navy-seal-daring-assault/story?id=55391400

 

[ScriptOhio]

President Trump presents Medal of Honor to widow of World War II veteran Garlin Murl Conner



For Pauline Conner, Tuesday is a day she wasn’t sure would ever come.

The widow of 1st Lt. Garlin Murl Conner waged a 22-year campaign to get his Distinguished Service Cross – which he was awarded for his actions on Jan. 24, 1945 in France – upgraded to a Medal of Honor, as his World War II battalion commander had wanted back then.

“After all these years it really is and truly is an honor,” the 89-year-old widow said Monday at the Pentagon. “I had really and truly given up on it. I just didn’t think it would ever happen. But he has a [combat] record that speaks for itself. I don’t have to tell it.”

President Donald Trump awarded the nation’s highest military decoration to Pauline in a White House ceremony honoring a remarkable moment of heroism from Conner’s 28-month combat career, which took him to North Africa and Europe.

"Today we tell the story about an incredible hero," Trump said during the ceremony. "Although he died 20 years ago today he takes his rightful place in the eternal chronicle of American valor."

The Medal of Honor makes Conner the second-most decorated soldier of World War II, according to the Army, surpassed only by legendary 1st Lt. Audie Murphy.

Entire article: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/06/2...-world-war-ii-veteran-garlin-murl-conner.html

 

[ScriptOhio]

Retired Marine receives Medal of Honor for Vietnam actions

President Donald Trump presents the Medal of Honor to U.S. Marine Corps retired Sgt. Maj. John Canley, during an East Room ceremony at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018. Canley is the 300th Marine to receive the nation's highest military medal.

MEDAL OF HONOR AWARDED TO 300TH U.S. MARINE, JOHN L. CANLEY, WHO WAS 'FEARLESS' IN BATTLE DURING VIETNAM WAR

It was clear almost as soon as the Times Square Ball dropped in New York City in 1968 that American sentiment toward the Vietnam War had grown angry.

Americans were still three years away from learning the presidential lies about the war that spanned four different administrations in classified and painstaking detail from the leaked Pentagon Papers.

But, for a group of U.S. Marines on the brink of entering one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War in January 1968, politics, public perceptions or even the question of why soldiers were sent to a war built on shoddy foreign policy were cast aside. For these Marines, in the hours and moments before the battle of Huế city, it was up to them to fight as a family—for each other.

“The foundation of Vietnam was ground troopers,” retired U.S. Marine Sergeant Major John L. Canley told Newsweek last month. “We didn’t have the best field gear or what I call ‘storage rot,' you know, from the Second World War. I can remember canteens falling off the cartridge belt.

“All we had was each other, we were family and I love them. I was inspired every day by their accomplishments and we’re talking 18-year-olds,” Canley added.

On Wednesday, 50 years after the battle, Canley, 80, stood in the East Room of the White House as so many other service members have before him, and was recognized with the nation’s highest military decoration for combat valor, the Medal of Honor.

Canley is credited with saving scores of his fellow Marines between January 31 and February 6, 1968, as he assumed command of the Marines after their company commander was seriously wounded at the Battle of Huế city. His heroics came despite sustaining injuries himself in two separate battles over the course of a week, which earned him the Purple Heart.

Entire article: https://www.newsweek.com/white-house-john-canley-medal-honor-1175630

 

[ScriptOhio]

President Trump awards Medal of Honor to Master Sgt. Matthew Williams

President Donald J. Trump awarded the nation’s highest combat medal to Master Sgt. Matthew O. Williams during a ceremony at the White House on Wednesday.

Williams, a Green Beret weapons sergeant from 3rd Special Forces Group, was presented the award for his actions “going above and beyond the call of duty” during an April 6, 2008, mission in Nuristan province, Afghanistan, that came to be known as the Battle of Shok Valley.

“Matt’s heroism ensured that not a single American died in the Battle of Shok Valley,” Trump said during the ceremony. “Matt is without question and without reservation one of the bravest soldiers and people I’ve ever met.”

Trump commended Williams for his “unyielding service” and “unbreakable resolve” during the battle, as well as the five other deployments he made to Afghanistan and the one he made to Africa.

Throughout the 2008 battle, Williams exposed himself to enemy fire multiple times on steep and challenging terrain.

His team was pitted against an overwhelming enemy force that held the high-ground and was able to rain rocket propelled grenades, sniper rounds and small arms fire onto the Green Beret team and their Afghan National Army Commando partners.

Williams carried wounded teammates down the mountainside, including his team sergeant, and “shielded the injured from falling rubble as American warplanes bombed insurgent positions above and rocked the mountain from top to bottom," the president said at the ceremony.

At one point, while dropping casualties off at a collection point, Williams engaged and killed two insurgents he spotted advancing on the position to take advantage of the wounded and disoriented friendly forces.

Over the course of a seven-hour firefight, Williams “valiantly protected the wounded," Trump said, until the team was able to completely evacuate from the target area inside CH-47 Chinook helicopters.

His Medal of Honor citation states that Williams’ actions helped save the lives of four critically wounded soldiers and prevented the lead element of the assault force from being overrun when they were ambushed at the outset of the mission.

Members of Williams’ Green Beret team from that 2008 operation, as well as one of their Afghan interpreters, were present at the White House ceremony.

Williams will continue to serve in the Army on active-duty after Wednesday’s ceremony, a prospect that he’s looking forward to, he told reporters at the Pentagon Tuesday.

The medal, he said, represents something much bigger than himself.

“The medal itself is more of a story of teamwork, never quitting, trusting in one another and doing what is right, what needs to be done,” Williams said Tuesday.

“As far as the day to day goes, I am hoping to return back to the unit — get back to my team — and continue training and get my current team ready for whatever comes next for us," he added.

Entire article: https://www.armytimes.com/news/your...edal-of-honor-to-master-sgt-matthew-williams/

His bio: https://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/williams/?from=hp_spotlight

 

[ScriptOhio]

Specialist Donald P. Sloat’s squad was conducting a patrol through the dense jungles of Vietnam in January 1970 when a soldier triggered a booby trap rigged with a live hand grenade, which Specialist Sloat quickly picked up.
With no time to toss it away, Specialist Sloat of the Army, 20 at the time, closed his body around the grenade as it exploded, his sacrifice shielding his fellow soldiers from harm and ending his life.

Nearly a half-century later, Specialist Sloat’s spontaneous act of valor has earned him the nation’s highest honor. In a White House ceremony on Monday, President Obama presented the Medal of Honor to Dr. William Sloat, Specialist Sloat’s brother, and recounted the moment when the grenade, without its pin, rolled along the grassy path to the feet of Specialist Sloat.

“At that moment, he could have run; at that moment, he could have ducked for cover,” Mr. Obama said Monday, recounting the moments before Specialist Sloat’s death. “He turned to throw it. But there were Americans in front of him and behind him. So Don held onto that grenade, and he pulled it close to his body, and he bent over it.”

“Everyone else survived,” Mr. Obama told a hushed audience. “He saved the lives of those next to him.”

In addition to Specialist Sloat, the president on Monday also awarded the Medal of Honor to Sgt. Maj. Bennie G. Adkins, who deployed to Vietnam three times from 1963 to 1971. During a four-day assault on Camp A Shau by the North Vietnamese in 1966, Sergeant Major Adkins repeatedly fought off waves of attacking soldiers in defense of the American position and his fellow soldiers.

Sergeant Major Adkins, now 80, sat quietly in a chair next to Mr. Obama’s podium as the president extolled episodes of valor so numerous that “we don’t have time to talk about all of them.”

He noted that Sergeant Major Adkins ran through enemy fire to retrieve supplies, and to save his fellow soldiers. He described how Sergeant Major Adkins repeatedly ran into the mortar pit to help repel the enemy.

“On the first day, Bennie was helping load a wounded American onto a helicopter,” Mr. Obama said. “A Vietnamese soldier jumped onto the helo trying to escape the battle and aimed his weapon directly at the wounded soldier, ready to shoot. Bennie stepped in, shielded his comrade, placing himself directly in the line of fire, helping to save his wounded comrade.”

In the citation for Sergeant Major Adkins that accompanies the Medal of Honor, it notes that the young soldier killed an estimated 135 to 175 enemies during the four-day battle, while sustaining 18 different wounds.

“You served with valor and you made us proud,” Mr. Obama said to Sergeant Major Adkins and the other Vietnam veterans in the audience. “Your service is with us for eternity.”

Entire article: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/16/us/medal-of-honor-awarded-to-vietnam-war-soldiers.html

Medal of Honor awarded to two soldiers from Vietnam War

Entire article: http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-nn-na-adkins-sloat-medal-of-honor-20140915-story.html

Medal of Honor recipient Bennie Adkins loses battle with coronavirus at 86

Medal of Honor recipient Bennie Adkins of Alabama has succumbed to the coronavirus after a long battle.

The Vietnam War hero was 86 when he died Friday.

“We are deeply saddened to notify you that after a courageous battle with COVID-19, Command Sergeant Major Bennie G. Adkins departed this life today, with beloved family at his bedside,” according to the foundation that bears his name.

Entire article: https://www.foxnews.com/us/medal-of-honor-recipient-bennie-adkins-coronavirus

 

[ScriptOhio]

Trump awards Medal of Honor to Army Ranger on 9/11 for rescue of 75 ISIS hostages

President Trump on Friday awarded the Medal of Honor to Army Sgt. Maj. Thomas Payne for his role in freeing 75 hostages from dozens of ISIS terrorists in Iraq.

The October 2015 operation near Kirkuk killed Payne’s Army Ranger colleague Joshua Wheeler, whose widow attended the ceremony at the White House.

“It was one of the largest and most daring rescue missions in American history,” Trump said in honoring Payne, who deployed 17 times for post-9/11 wars.

Trump regaled his Sept. 11 audience with an account of Payne’s heroism in freeing the Kurdish hostages. The Islamic State group had intended to slaughter the captives and bury them in freshly dug graves.

“After midnight on Oct. 22, Pat boarded a helicopter and departed on a mission to free the hostages from two buildings guarded by dozens of ruthless and bloodthirsty ISIS terrorists,” Trump said.

“As soon as the ramp to his helicopter went down, Pat rushed into a blistering hail of gunfire. Pat and his team swiftly overpowered the enemy, secured the building and freed 38 of the hostages, Then Pat received word that the rest of the assault team was facing harsh resistance.”

After freeing the first group, Payne and his men fought their way into a second building to free 37 other captives.

“He and his team climbed up ladders to the roof and opened up fire on the enemy. Multiple ISIS fighters detonated suicide vests, ripping a portion of the building into pieces,” Trump said.

Payne cut two locks on the second building and freed people as the building burned.

Payne “grabbed a pair of bolt cutters and ran through smoldering flame and smoke. As bullets impacted all around him, Pat succeeded in cutting one of the locks before scorching sweltering heat forced him to leave the building for some air. Pat caught his breath in a few seconds and was back. He ran right back into that raging blaze and sliced the final lock and released the rest of the hostages.”

Trump said Payne defied orders to leave without freeing all of the captives.

“As the building began to collapse, he received orders to evacuate but he refused to do so. He didn’t want to leave anyone behind. Pat ran back into the burning building that was collapsing two more times. He saved multiple hostages and he was the last man to leave,” Trump said.

Twenty ISIS fighters were killed in the operation.

Entire article: https://nypost.com/2020/09/11/trump...o-sgt-on-9-11-for-rescue-of-75-isis-hostages/

 

[ScriptOhio]

Medal of Honor recipient Hershel ‘Woody’ Williams, 98, passes away

Medal of Honor recipient Hershel “Woody” Williams has passed away. He was 98.

The Woody Williams Foundation writes Wednesday, “at 3:15 a.m., Hershel Woodrow Williams, affectionately known by many as Woody, went home to be with the Lord. Woody peacefully joined his beloved wife Ruby while surrounded by his family at the VA Medical Center which bears his name.”

Entire article: https://www.wsaz.com/2022/06/29/medal-honor-recipient-hershel-woody-williams-98-passes-away/

R.I.P.

 

[ScriptOhio]

Stories of all the Congressional Medal Of Honor recipients: https://www.cmohs.org/recipients

and 4 more were added today:



Biden awards 4 Vietnam veterans with the Medal of Honor

Maj. John Duffy

John Kaneshiro accepts the Medal of Honor for his late father, Army Staff Sergeant Edward N. Kaneshiro.

Spc. Dwight Birdwell

Spc. Dennis Fujii

Entire article: https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/05/politics/biden-medal-of-honor-vietnam/index.html

 

[ScriptOhio]

Decades after risking his life to save his men, a Green Beret gets the Medal of Honor

Davis and his men were in a fight for their lives​

The sun had only just begun to rise on June 18, 1965, when Davis and the three Green Berets under his command were pinned down by relentless enemy fire. The group had led a company of South Vietnamese soldiers on a raid against a Viet Cong headquarters hours before and were ambushed on their way back to base, Davis recounted.

With many of his men dead or wounded, Davis, a young captain at the time, repeatedly beat back enemy forces using everything and anything at his disposal; mortars, machine guns, grenades, the buttstock of his rifle and even hand-to-hand combat, he recalled.

The situation deteriorated as the morning became the afternoon.

Davis called for artillery fire support despite being what's known as "danger close" to the target, with rounds landing within 100 feet of his own position. The fire mission gave him an opportunity to reach one of his wounded men, though Davis had been shot at least once and been wounded by a grenade by this point.

But the enemy continued their assault, and Davis was ordered by an Air Force colonel to pull out with whatever men he could save. In an interview on the Phil Donahue Show in 1969, Davis said there were as many as 700 enemy combatants trying to overrun his position.

Davis refused to leave when ordered to retreat

Davis had managed to save two of his men who had been wounded in a rice paddy, he recalled. But one man was still unaccounted for, and Davis refused to leave him behind.

"Sir, I'm just not going to leave. I still have an American out there," Davis recalled telling the colonel in the Phil Donohue Show interview.

Davis called for a medical evacuation to transport his wounded men out of the area and was shot in the leg while carrying one of the Green Berets to the chopper.

Late in the afternoon, Davis was able locate his missing man and get him to safety. Davis could tell the Green Beret was gravely wounded, but was unsure to what extent. He had spent more than 12 hours bleeding out in the rice paddy before Davis reached him.

Reinforcements eventually arrived, allowing Davis, the three Americans and the surviving South Vietnamese soldiers to escape to safety.

Entire article:

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/03/1160190832/biden-special-forces-officer-paris-davis-medal-of-honor-vietnam

 

[calibuck]

This is great stuff about patriotism, bravery and dedication to one's comrades in arms....thank you

 

[ScriptOhio]

Anyone here live in Perry County or in Roseville?

Post office renamed for Medal of Honor winner

ROSEVILLE – A local military veteran and bona fide war hero was honored on Monday when, thanks to an act of Congress, the Roseville Post Office was rechristened as the

www.perrytribune.com

A local military veteran and bona fide war hero was honored on Monday when, thanks to an act of Congress, the Roseville Post Office was rechristened as the Ronald E. Rosser Post Office.

This Day in History: Ronald Rosser, the one-man Army

On this day in 1952, a hero is presented with the Medal of Honor. Ronald Rosser might never have served in the Korean War but for his little brother. Rosser was the oldest of 17 children, and he was very protective of them. “If you bothered one of my brothers, I cleaned your clock,” he once...

www.taraross.com

Rosser was the oldest of 17 children, and he was very protective of them. “If you bothered one of my brothers, I cleaned your clock,” he once said. “And if you bothered one of my sisters, you'd better leave town.”

Unfortunately, Rosser’s little brother was killed early in the Korean War. “I made up my mind that you can’t kill my brother and get away with it,” he later said. “So I went over there with kind of ‘vengeance-in-mind’ kind of attitude.”

The Army tried to send him to Japan, but he would have none of it. He asked to go to Korea. Once there, he saw many refugees who were children. It tugged at his heart. “[Here were] these children starving to death,” he said. Remember, Rosser was from a big family, so the situation made him extra sad. “And, somehow, I just lost all the hate in me; became a soldier,” he concluded.

By January 1952, he was serving as a forward observer directing artillery fire. U.S. infantry were then assaulting a snow-covered hill held by the Chinese. It was freezing, and the Chinese were hiding in an elaborate network of trenches that covered the hill.

Needless to say, Americans were taking heavy casualties. By the time they were 100 yards shy of the crest of the hill, only 35 of 170 men remained uninjured. Nevertheless, when the commanding officer radioed for orders, he was told to stay and make one last attempt to take the hill.

Rosser took one look at that officer and knew that he wouldn’t be able to get it done.

“It was twenty below zero and he had frozen blood all over him,” Rosser described. “The captain put down the radio and looked up at the mountain and got this real hopeless look on his face.”

Naturally, Rosser volunteered to organize the remaining men and lead the charge.

“I’m going straight up shooting,” he hollered to the captain. “That’s the only chance we’ve got.”

Some men never followed him. Some were driven off. Either way, by the time he was halfway to the Chinese position, he found that he was alone.

“‘Well, Ron Rosser,” he said to himself, “you went to a lot of trouble to get here. Let’s give it a go.’ I let out a war whoop like a wild Apache Indian and jumped into the trench with them.”

At that point, Rosser became something of a one-man army.

Nine Chinese soldiers were in the bunker, but he took them on. “I was so close to them that I actually stuck the carbine in one of them’s ears, pulled the trigger, and—one of them was behind me, and I swung around and shot him in the neck, and he fell over and grabbed me by the leg. And I kicked him off of me and shot him in the heart.”

He took on the others in close combat, even chasing two who escaped. He followed them and threw a grenade into the bunker where they were hiding. He soon moved to another trench line where he took out five more of the enemy.

By this point, Rosser was out of ammunition, so he went back down the hill to restock before going back up the hill—again. He took out more of the enemy, returned for ammunition, then went back up the hill a third time. Amazingly, Rosser fought for an hour before finally organizing a retreat, getting the American dead and wounded back down the hill.

“All I was trying to do was protect the men I was responsible for,” he explained. “I was trying to keep them off our wounded. The purpose of me doing all that crazy stuff was trying to stop them from doing that.”

 

[Thump]

Anyone here live in Perry County or in Roseville?

Post office renamed for Medal of Honor winner

ROSEVILLE – A local military veteran and bona fide war hero was honored on Monday when, thanks to an act of Congress, the Roseville Post Office was rechristened as the

www.perrytribune.com

A local military veteran and bona fide war hero was honored on Monday when, thanks to an act of Congress, the Roseville Post Office was rechristened as the Ronald E. Rosser Post Office.

This Day in History: Ronald Rosser, the one-man Army

On this day in 1952, a hero is presented with the Medal of Honor. Ronald Rosser might never have served in the Korean War but for his little brother. Rosser was the oldest of 17 children, and he was very protective of them. “If you bothered one of my brothers, I cleaned your clock,” he once...

www.taraross.com

Rosser was the oldest of 17 children, and he was very protective of them. “If you bothered one of my brothers, I cleaned your clock,” he once said. “And if you bothered one of my sisters, you'd better leave town.”

Unfortunately, Rosser’s little brother was killed early in the Korean War. “I made up my mind that you can’t kill my brother and get away with it,” he later said. “So I went over there with kind of ‘vengeance-in-mind’ kind of attitude.”

The Army tried to send him to Japan, but he would have none of it. He asked to go to Korea. Once there, he saw many refugees who were children. It tugged at his heart. “[Here were] these children starving to death,” he said. Remember, Rosser was from a big family, so the situation made him extra sad. “And, somehow, I just lost all the hate in me; became a soldier,” he concluded.

By January 1952, he was serving as a forward observer directing artillery fire. U.S. infantry were then assaulting a snow-covered hill held by the Chinese. It was freezing, and the Chinese were hiding in an elaborate network of trenches that covered the hill.

Needless to say, Americans were taking heavy casualties. By the time they were 100 yards shy of the crest of the hill, only 35 of 170 men remained uninjured. Nevertheless, when the commanding officer radioed for orders, he was told to stay and make one last attempt to take the hill.

Rosser took one look at that officer and knew that he wouldn’t be able to get it done.

“It was twenty below zero and he had frozen blood all over him,” Rosser described. “The captain put down the radio and looked up at the mountain and got this real hopeless look on his face.”

Naturally, Rosser volunteered to organize the remaining men and lead the charge.

“I’m going straight up shooting,” he hollered to the captain. “That’s the only chance we’ve got.”

Some men never followed him. Some were driven off. Either way, by the time he was halfway to the Chinese position, he found that he was alone.

“‘Well, Ron Rosser,” he said to himself, “you went to a lot of trouble to get here. Let’s give it a go.’ I let out a war whoop like a wild Apache Indian and jumped into the trench with them.”

At that point, Rosser became something of a one-man army.

Nine Chinese soldiers were in the bunker, but he took them on. “I was so close to them that I actually stuck the carbine in one of them’s ears, pulled the trigger, and—one of them was behind me, and I swung around and shot him in the neck, and he fell over and grabbed me by the leg. And I kicked him off of me and shot him in the heart.”

He took on the others in close combat, even chasing two who escaped. He followed them and threw a grenade into the bunker where they were hiding. He soon moved to another trench line where he took out five more of the enemy.

By this point, Rosser was out of ammunition, so he went back down the hill to restock before going back up the hill—again. He took out more of the enemy, returned for ammunition, then went back up the hill a third time. Amazingly, Rosser fought for an hour before finally organizing a retreat, getting the American dead and wounded back down the hill.

“All I was trying to do was protect the men I was responsible for,” he explained. “I was trying to keep them off our wounded. The purpose of me doing all that crazy stuff was trying to stop them from doing that.”

@Crump's brother

 

[Crump's brother]

@Crump's brother

Mom is from Cloverhill, dad Roseville (played baseball for Mr Dantonio) I'll pass this along. Thanks!