Wounded five times and alone in the open, he refused to yield. When enemy troops moved in to capture him, he turned the trap into their defeat.
A North Vietnamese battalion hit the company with overwhelming force. Their first sergeant ran straight into the heaviest fire—and never stopped leading.
The base was under bombardment, and enemy sappers were already inside the wire. When death landed in the bunker, he threw himself between it and six others. 21 March 1969
The Siegfried Line stopped his company cold. He walked into it—standing upright under fire—and broke it open.
His company was pinned down by fire they could not break. So he went forward—alone—and tore open the enemy’s line.
Wounded at the start of the attack, he refused to fall back. Even after losing a foot, he kept crawling toward the wounded.
The river crossing was complete—but the ground beyond was sown with hidden death. He stepped into it anyway, because men were still out there.
