**** Medal of Honor Monday
On this day in 1964, a Medal of Honor is issued to Army Captain Roger Donlon. It would be the first medal issued for an action in the Vietnam War.
“[Born and raised] one of ten children,” he later explained. “Right after the Depression, so that paints the picture. Things were tough.” But his parents placed an emphasis on hard work and service. Maybe unsurprisingly, all five sons in the Donlon family would end up volunteering for the military.
Roger had *really* wanted to serve in the Air Force, but he ultimately couldn’t serve as a pilot because of a problem with his eyes.
The Air Force’s loss was the Army’s gain!
During the Vietnam War, Donlon found himself in command of a 12-man Special Forces unit at a post near Nam Dong. Several hundred South Vietnamese and anti-Communist Chinese were at this “outpost of freedom,” along with Donlon’s men, in early July 1964.
Everyone knew that something was coming!
“The villagers are scared,” one of Donlon’s patrols radioed back on July 3, “but they won’t tell us why.” Don’t you know that tensions mounted still more when two locals were found dead? The (presumably murdered) Indian chiefs had been friendly to the Americans.
Donlon wanted to be prepared. On the night of July 5, he reportedly told his team sergeant: “Get everyone buttoned up tight tonight, Pop. The VC are coming. I can feel it. I want everyone ready.”
He was soon proven right when roughly 900 Viet Cong fighters attacked during the wee morning hours. For hours, Donlon and his men defended their post. Donlon was seemingly everywhere! You have to wonder how he even survived the experience.
Donlon’s medal citation describes the “enemy barrage of mortar shells, falling grenades, and extremely heavy gunfire” that immediately rained down on the outpost. Despite the barrage, Donlon kept his men supplied, tended to their wounds, and directed defense operations. He evacuated much-needed ammunition from a burning building. He ran through a shower of hand grenades so he could abort a breach of the main gate and kill three enemy combatants who had been trying to come through. He pulled wounded men to safety, and he dragged weapons to new locations when needed.
He also watched a friend die.
Donlon mourned, even in the midst of all that horror: “I paused, mentally at least. God, why John? Why not me?” The young soldier had recently confided to him that he and his wife were expecting twins. “Well, that’s almost powerful enough to stop you in your tracks,” Donlon said somberly, “but fortunately I was able to view it as a need for me to dig deeper.”
Donlon not only “dug deeper,” but he kept it up for five hours. Amazingly, he did all this while suffering from his own serious wounds. At one point, he stuffed a shirt into a gaping stomach wound so he could keep the bleeding at bay while he continued his efforts.
Finally, U.S. aircraft arrived, dropping flares and helping to bring the battle to a close. Donlon’s men had successfully held their position until they could be evacuated, although two members of the team had been killed.
In December 1964, Donlon was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Nam Dong. He was the first Special Forces member to ever receive the medal.
“You never hear the word ‘hate’ amongst [Medal recipients],” Donlon later observed. “You killed the enemy because of the love you had for the man next to you. . . . The most powerful emotion on Earth is love.”
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Gentle reminder: History posts are copyright © 2013-2016 by Tara Ross
Permalink: http://www.taraross.com/2016/12/this-day-in-history-roger-donlon-and-the-battle-of-nam-dong
@AZZMAN75 @tcavol @stonewall_jackson @CavVol @DMS-PMS @mp1998 @Eyes4Vols
On this day in 1964, a Medal of Honor is issued to Army Captain Roger Donlon. It would be the first medal issued for an action in the Vietnam War.
“[Born and raised] one of ten children,” he later explained. “Right after the Depression, so that paints the picture. Things were tough.” But his parents placed an emphasis on hard work and service. Maybe unsurprisingly, all five sons in the Donlon family would end up volunteering for the military.
Roger had *really* wanted to serve in the Air Force, but he ultimately couldn’t serve as a pilot because of a problem with his eyes.
The Air Force’s loss was the Army’s gain!
During the Vietnam War, Donlon found himself in command of a 12-man Special Forces unit at a post near Nam Dong. Several hundred South Vietnamese and anti-Communist Chinese were at this “outpost of freedom,” along with Donlon’s men, in early July 1964.
Everyone knew that something was coming!
“The villagers are scared,” one of Donlon’s patrols radioed back on July 3, “but they won’t tell us why.” Don’t you know that tensions mounted still more when two locals were found dead? The (presumably murdered) Indian chiefs had been friendly to the Americans.
Donlon wanted to be prepared. On the night of July 5, he reportedly told his team sergeant: “Get everyone buttoned up tight tonight, Pop. The VC are coming. I can feel it. I want everyone ready.”
He was soon proven right when roughly 900 Viet Cong fighters attacked during the wee morning hours. For hours, Donlon and his men defended their post. Donlon was seemingly everywhere! You have to wonder how he even survived the experience.
Donlon’s medal citation describes the “enemy barrage of mortar shells, falling grenades, and extremely heavy gunfire” that immediately rained down on the outpost. Despite the barrage, Donlon kept his men supplied, tended to their wounds, and directed defense operations. He evacuated much-needed ammunition from a burning building. He ran through a shower of hand grenades so he could abort a breach of the main gate and kill three enemy combatants who had been trying to come through. He pulled wounded men to safety, and he dragged weapons to new locations when needed.
He also watched a friend die.
Donlon mourned, even in the midst of all that horror: “I paused, mentally at least. God, why John? Why not me?” The young soldier had recently confided to him that he and his wife were expecting twins. “Well, that’s almost powerful enough to stop you in your tracks,” Donlon said somberly, “but fortunately I was able to view it as a need for me to dig deeper.”
Donlon not only “dug deeper,” but he kept it up for five hours. Amazingly, he did all this while suffering from his own serious wounds. At one point, he stuffed a shirt into a gaping stomach wound so he could keep the bleeding at bay while he continued his efforts.
Finally, U.S. aircraft arrived, dropping flares and helping to bring the battle to a close. Donlon’s men had successfully held their position until they could be evacuated, although two members of the team had been killed.
In December 1964, Donlon was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Nam Dong. He was the first Special Forces member to ever receive the medal.
“You never hear the word ‘hate’ amongst [Medal recipients],” Donlon later observed. “You killed the enemy because of the love you had for the man next to you. . . . The most powerful emotion on Earth is love.”
-------------
Gentle reminder: History posts are copyright © 2013-2016 by Tara Ross
Permalink: http://www.taraross.com/2016/12/this-day-in-history-roger-donlon-and-the-battle-of-nam-dong
@AZZMAN75 @tcavol @stonewall_jackson @CavVol @DMS-PMS @mp1998 @Eyes4Vols
