NOVEMBER 18, 2024 – When a huge wave of Viet Cong troops threatened to overwhelm Army Sgt. 1st Class Sammy Lee Davis’ battalion at a small fire base in Vietnam, he jumped into action to fight back. Despite suffering several injuries, Davis traversed a river to save three of his comrades and did what he could to stop the onslaught. He received the Medal of Honor for his efforts.
Davis was born on Nov. 1, 1946, in Dayton, Ohio, to Robert and Bonnie Davis. Due to his father’s job, his family moved around a lot, and he was raised mostly outside of Stockton, California.
Davis went to Manteca High School in Manteca, California, where he played football and was on the diving team, according to a 2010 article in the town’s local newspaper, the Manteca Bulletin. When his family moved to Indiana in his senior year, he decided to enlist in the military. So, in September 1966, after graduating from Mooresville High School, he joined the Army just as the war in Vietnam was escalating.
At the time, Davis said he felt like he needed to do his part because everyone else in his family had. His father served in World War II and his grandfather served in the Spanish-American War. One of his three brothers, Buddy, served in Korea, while another brother, Darrell, was already serving in Vietnam, he told the Manteca Bulletin.
Davis became a cannoneer and was assigned to Battery C of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Artillery, 9th Infantry Division. In March of 1967, his unit was sent to Vietnam.
By November 1967, the enemy had extended the Ho Chi Minh Trail south from North Vietnam through Cambodia and Laos so they could attempt to enter far South Vietnam along the Mekong Delta, an area known for its vast maze of rivers, swamps and islands surrounded by rice paddies.
On Nov. 18, Davis was in that area at a remote support base, Firebase Cudgel, located among a reed-filled plain with little islands toward its middle. His battalion had been charged with trying to find enemy units hiding in the area.
Around 2 a.m., the base came under heavy mortar attack. About 30 minutes later, a Viet Cong battalion of about 1,500 troops launched a fierce ground assault. They managed to push in close enough, with only a small river about 35 meters wide separating the enemy from the fire support base.
According to Davis’ Medal of Honor citation, Davis grabbed a machine gun and blasted it at the enemy to cover for his artillery crew as they tried to fire their howitzer. In the middle of that attempt, an enemy recoilless rifle round landed a direct hit on the howitzer, causing a blast that blew the gun crew away from the weapon and tossed Davis into a foxhole about 8-10 meters away.
The blast caused dozens of injuries to Davis’ back and legs and it knocked him out. He woke up when other U.S. soldiers fired a beehive round, which contains thousands of smaller projectiles that look like small arrows that expand outward when fired. The round was meant for the enemy, but it struck Davis, too, because his fellow soldiers didn’t realize he was still alive.
Davis struggled to his feet and went back to the damaged, burning howitzer from which he had been blown away. Despite taking on continued enemy fire, he rammed a beehive shell into the gun and fired. The artillery piece rolled backward and knocked Davis to the ground again, breaking his third lumbar vertebra, according to his first-person interview with the Indianapolis Star in 1988.
Davis got back up and returned to the weapon, firing again just as an enemy mortar exploded within 20 meters of him. Davis suffered more painful injuries, but he kept going. He loaded and fired the howitzer four more times.
Soon after, Davis noticed a U.S. soldier across the river waving his arms and asking for help for himself and others. Davis knew his injuries left him unable to swim, but he disregarded that thought and looked around to find something to help him across. When he found an air mattress, he struck out across the river to rescue his wounded comrades.
As enemy troops aimed at Davis, he hopped into the water and held onto the air mattress until he got to the wounded men. Davis told the Indianapolis Star that he threw the most seriously injured man over his back and carried the other two in his arms as he started to wade back across the river. He said as the enemy fired at them, he had to continually stop his progress to take his gun and shoot at them before he could try to move forward again with the three men.
Finally, they made it back to the fire support base side of the river. Davis handed off the men he helped, but instead of getting medical attention himself, he tried to aide a fellow soldier with a massive chest wound before joining another howitzer crew. That team continued to fire at the Viet Cong forces until the enemy finally fled around daybreak.
Davis told the Indianapolis Star that he helped load all of the injured and fallen men into helicopters to be evacuated. It wasn’t until someone pointed out his awful leg injuries that he, too, realized he needed help.
“It was horrible looking, and I passed out,” he told the Star. “I woke up in the hospital.”
Davis was one of 42 soldiers at the base when the fight began. Four hours later, only 12 were left alive.
Davis was sent to Japan to recuperate from his wounds. The Army had planned to send him home, but he specifically requested to return to his unit. In December 1967, he did just that. David remained with his unit as a cook for another three months before he was finally sent back the U.S.
Davis said he later learned that all of the men who survived the fight with him recommended him for the Medal of Honor. He received the nation’s highest honor for valor from President Lyndon B. Johnson during a White House ceremony on Nov. 19, 1968. Four other soldiers received the high honor that day: Spc. 5th Class Dwight H. Johnson, Capt. Charles Liteky, Spc. 4th Class Gary Wetzel and Capt. James A. Taylor.
Anyone who sees footage of the Medal of Honor ceremony might recognize it as a scene from “Forrest Gump.” That portion of the ceremony was used in the Academy Award-winning movie, having replaced Davis’ head with that of actor Tom Hanks.
In December 1968, Davis married Peggy Jo Martin, whom he met while home on leave from Vietnam. They settled down in Illinois, her home state, and had three children.
In the decades since receiving the Medal of Honor, Davis has been an advocate for Vietnam veterans, fighting to gain compensation and medical assistance for those affected by Agent Orange. He also organized and participated in welcome home parades for Vietnam veterans years after the war ended to give them the happy homecoming they never received. Davis attends speaking engagements with troops and various other groups to talk about his experiences.
In 2004, Davis’ wife died of cancer. The following year, he married a woman named Dixie. She was the widow of a Vietnam veteran who had also died of cancer.
In 2016, Davis wrote a book called “You Don’t Lose ‘Til You Quit Trying: Lessons on Adversity and Victory from a Vietnam Veteran and Medal of Honor Recipient.”
This article is part of a weekly series called “Medal of Honor Monday,” in which we highlight one of the more than 3,500 Medal of Honor recipients who have received the U.S. military’s highest medal for valor.
By Katie Lange, DOD News