JANUARY 6, 2025 — Three U.S. Soldiers overcame the odds to rescue their comrades against enemy fire and another four fought valiantly against enemy forces.
President Joe Biden honored the sacrifices of those seven Soldiers from the Korean and Vietnam Wars in a White House ceremony, presenting the Medal of Honor to the families of six late Soldiers and one living recipient.
Each of the honored helped save the lives of Soldiers by risking their own lives against enemy attacks. During battles in the Korean War, Gen. Richard Cavazos, Pvt. 1st Class Charles Johnson, and Pvt. Bruno Orig each rescued wounded Soldiers, while Pvt. 1st Class Wataru Nakamura and Cpl. Fred McGee bravely led attacks against daunting odds. Spc. 4th Class Kenneth David, the only living recipient will be also presented with the Medal.
During the Vietnam War, David and Capt. Hugh Nelson Jr. rescued comrades injured by enemy attacks. Nelson, Nakamura, Johnson and Orig eventually died in action from their heroic efforts.
Then-1st Lt. Richard Cavazos
During a battle near Sagimak, Korea, when enemy fire began to overwhelm his company, Cavazos obeyed orders to withdraw his men. But Cavazos alone returned to his outpost to search for missing Soldiers in June 1953.
Cavazos, for whom the Army renamed Fort Hood, Texas in his honor, had just led his company on a raid, but enemy fire forced him to withdraw and regroup. Cavazos found five injured U.S. troops which he brought to safety amid enemy fire. He set them on a hill to be rescued by friendly forces.
Cavazos again would put himself in harm’s way to rescue another group of injured Soldiers, and returned a few times more until he cleared the battlefield of the injured on the morning of June 15. Finally Cavazos accepted medical aid after he had brought as many Soldiers to safety as he could. The now late Cavazos would go on become a four-star general and commander of U.S. Army Forces Command.
Then-Pvt. 1st Class Kenneth David
On May 7, 1970, in Vietnam’s Thua Thien Province, a fierce enemy attack injured or killed several Soldiers in David’s unit, including mortally wounding his company commander.
As enemy rounds continued to fly towards the injured, David, a radio operator, sprang into action. David fearlessly defended his fallen comrades by attacking enemy forces with a barrage of automatic weapons fire, repeatedly diverting the enemy bullets away from the injured and towards his position.
Although David sustained injury, David continued to engage the enemy, even drawing fire away from medical evacuation helicopters so that the wounded could be rescued.
Pvt. 1st Class Charles Johnson
On the night of June 11, 1953, Johnson suffered injuries from a grenade and artillery fire during a heavy raid by Chinese forces. Despite his injuries, Johnson rendered aid to the more seriously injured Soldiers. Johnson, a rifleman with Company B, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, dragged the injured to safety while fighting enemy combatants and risking further injury to himself.
Johnson then searched for weapons and rearmed members of his unit. Finally Johnson placed himself in front of enemy fire to shield his unit, promising to hold off the attack and eventually saved the lives of as many as 10 U.S. Soldiers.
Johnson would die the next day near Chorwon, North Korea, while fighting hostile forces. Johnson, a native of Millbrook, New York, was drafted into the Army in 1952.
Cpl. Fred McGee
When an enemy attack injured his squad leader and several members of his unit on June 16, 1952, McGee, a machine gunner, quickly assumed command of his unit.
During the battle near Tang-Wan-Ni, Korea, McGee then moved his squad forward to neutralize an enemy machine gun that had been attacking another platoon. After McGee’s machine gunner suffered mortal injuries, McGee returned to his post as gunner. The Ohio native followed orders to withdraw his squad but remained behind. Amid the onslaught of enemy machine gun fire, he moved an injured Soldier out of harm’s way.
McGee, an Ohio native earned two Purple Hearts for his actions during combat on Hill 528 and was later inducted into the Purple Heart Hall of Fame. His Silver Star award will be upgraded to the Medal of Honor.
Pvt. 1st Class Wataru Nakamura
In the early morning hours of May 18, 1951, near P’ungch’on-ni, Korea, enemy forces ambushed Nakamura as he made his way to repair a communications line.
Nakamura alone attacked the enemy with a bayonet, destroying an enemy machine gun and driving enemy forces out of friendly bunkers. After rearming himself, he killed three enemies and wounded another, before suffering mortal wounds from an enemy grenade.
Nakamura, a native of Los Angeles, volunteered to join the Army in 1944 after the government ordered his family and other Japanese Americans to live on internment camps.
Capt. Hugh Nelson Jr.
On June 5, 1966, after an enemy attack forced Nelson to crash-land his Huey helicopter near Moc Hoa, Vietnam, Nelson would make the ultimate sacrifice for his crew as they lay trapped inside the aircraft.
Amid enemy rounds flying toward him, Nelson pulled out his crew chief. The captain then freed his trapped gunner while being hit by enemy fire. Nelson used his own body to shield the gunner from enemy fire, eventually succumbing to his injuries from the onslaught.
Nelson’s sacrifice allowed an injured crew member to signal for help and the eventual rescue of the three crew members.
Pvt. Bruno Orig
After returning from another mission, Orig witnessed fellow Soldiers being wounded from an enemy attack on February 15, 1951 near Chipyong-ni, Korea.
Orig rushed to the aid of his comrades, leaving himself vulnerable to enemy attack. Orig and Soldiers from the command post pulled the injured Soldiers to safety. Then Orig took control of a machine gun to suppress enemy fire preventing a single casualty from a nearby friendly platoon and killed several enemies.
Fellow U.S. Soldiers later found Orig. deceased near the machine gun. Orig, a native of Honolulu, comes from a line of veterans who served in World War I and World War I as his father, step-father, and brothers all served in the military.
By Joe Lacdan, Army News Service