Black Vietnam Veteran's Near 60-Yr Wait for Medal of Honor Over; Pres. Biden to Host Presentation

Last edited Wed Feb 15, 2023, 04:30 AM - Edit history (1)

CBS News, Feb. 14, 2023.

After a delay of nearly six decades, one of the first Black officers in the Green Berets will receive the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest combat decoration for his heroism in Vietnam. On Monday, President Joe Biden personally called Col. Paris Davis (ret.) to deliver the news, informing him that he will receive the Medal of Honor "for his remarkable heroism during the Vietnam War," according to a White House statement.

"The call today from President Biden prompted a wave of memories of the men and women I served with in Vietnam – from the members of 5th Special Forces Group and other U.S. military units to the doctors and nurses who cared for our wounded," Davis said in a statement released by him and his family. "I am so very grateful for my family and friends within the military and elsewhere who kept alive the story of A-team, A-321 at Camp Bong Son. I think often of those fateful 19 hours on June 18, 1965 and what our team did to make sure we left no man behind on that battlefield."

Mr. Biden told Davis that "he looks forward to hosting him at the White House soon for a medal presentation," the White House said.

Davis' story, about how his Medal of Honor paperwork mysteriously vanished in 1965, at the height of the civil rights movement, first aired on "CBS Mornings" two years ago. Military historian Doug Sterner, who served two tours in Vietnam and has written 108 books on service medals, said the Davis case is unique. "This is a veteran, a war hero, who was submitted for our nation's highest honor, and the paperwork for that award was actually lost. The military is redundant in paperwork, if nothing else. And so it's very rare for that to occur," Sterner explained. Davis gave his only television interview to "CBS Mornings" about the renewed effort for recognition for him that had been undertaken by a group of volunteers, including a number of veterans.

Team members and Davis told CBS News they believed race was a factor in the disappearance of Davis' Medal of Honor paperwork. One of the first Black officers to be part of the Army's Special Forces, Davis' courage and valor earned him the respect of his soldiers in Vietnam, and a nomination for the award. In June 1965, Davis, then an Army captain, led a nearly 19-hour raid northeast of Saigon. "We were stacking bodies the way you do canned goods in a grocery store," Davis recalled in his interview with CBS News. Though he'd been hit by a grenade and gunfire, Davis would not leave behind Americans Billy Waugh and Robert Brown. Both were gravely injured — and Brown had been shot in the head, Davis said...https://www.cbsnews.com/news/black-vietnam-veterans-nearly-60-year-wait-for-medal-of-honor-is-over/
---------------

- Meet Sgt. William Carney, the 1st African American Medal of Honor Receipient, Ft. Wagner, Civil War. US Army, 2017,

Of the 3,498 service members who have received the Medal of Honor throughout U.S. history, only 88 have been black. In recognition of African American History Month, we're sharing the stories of the brave men who so gallantly risked and gave their lives for others, even in times when others weren't willing to do the same in return. We'll start with the first black recipient of the award: Army Sgt. William H. Carney, who earned the honor for protecting one of the United States' greatest symbols during the Civil War -- the American flag...https://www.army.mil/article/181896/meet_sgt_william_carney_the_first_african_american_medal_of_honor_recipient