Medal of Honor: Karl G. Taylor Sr. – Vietnam War – December 8, 1968

Name: Karl Gorman Taylor Sr.
Rank: Staff Sergeant
Organization: U.S. Marine Corps
Unit: Company I, 3d Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment, 3d Marine Division (Rein.), FMF
Place and Date: Republic of Vietnam – 8 December 1968
Entered Service At: Baltimore, Maryland
Born: July 14, 1939 – Laurel, Maryland
Departed: December 8, 1968 (Killed in Action)
Accredited To: Maryland

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Summary of Action

During the bitter fighting of Operation Meade River, Company I was moving at night when its lead platoon was suddenly hit and pinned down by intense enemy fire. The platoon commander was mortally wounded, and Marines lay scattered across open terrain under machine-gun and small-arms fire.

Hearing of the crisis, Staff Sergeant Karl G. Taylor Sr.—the company’s gunnery sergeant—crawled forward with another Marine through a storm of hostile fire to reach the embattled platoon. Exposed, shouting encouragement and directing the men, he reorganized the defensive line and moved them into covered positions.

Then, Taylor returned into the open again and again, pulling Marines who were too badly wounded to move. His actions saved lives, even as enemy fire swept the rice paddy around him.

When he learned that additional severely wounded Marines lay stranded near an enemy machine-gun bunker, Taylor led four men across the fire-swept ground in an attempt to reach them. The group was halted by an overwhelming volume of fire.

Realizing that the only way to save the wounded was to remove the machine gun itself, Taylor ordered his men back to safety. Alone, carrying a grenade launcher, he charged across the open paddy toward the bunker—running directly into the weapon’s line of fire. Though hit multiple times, he kept going, firing as he advanced.

He reached the bunker, silenced the machine gun, and removed the threat that had pinned down his company—moments before he was mortally wounded.

His courage preserved the lives of numerous Marines and inspired every man who witnessed his final charge.

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Medal of Honor Citation

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving at night as a company gunnery sergeant during Operation MEADE RIVER. Informed that the commander of the lead platoon had been mortally wounded when his unit was pinned down by a heavy volume of enemy fire, S/Sgt. Taylor along with another marine, crawled forward to the beleaguered unit through a hail of hostile fire, shouted encouragement and instructions to the men, and deployed them to covered positions. With his companion, he then repeatedly maneuvered across an open area to rescue those marines who were too seriously wounded to move by themselves. Upon learning that there were still other seriously wounded men lying in another open area, in proximity to an enemy machinegun position, S/Sgt. Taylor, accompanied by 4 comrades, led his men forward across the fire-swept terrain in an attempt to rescue the marines. When his group was halted by devastating fire, he directed his companions to return to the company command post; whereupon he took his grenade launcher and in full view of the enemy, charged across the open rice paddy toward the machinegun position, firing his weapon as he ran. Although wounded several times, he succeeded in reaching the machinegun bunker and silencing the fire from that sector, moments before he was mortally wounded. Directly instrumental in saving the lives of several of his fellow marines, S/Sgt. Taylor, by his indomitable courage, inspiring leadership, and selfless dedication, upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the U.S. Naval Service.