American Valor Quarterly Issue 5 - Winter 2008/09 | Page 29
The Medal of Honor:
Valor in Vietnam
The United States military’s highest award for valor, the Medal
of Honor, was created by Congress in 1861. It is awarded in the
name of Congress to a person who, while a member of the
Armed Services, distinguishes himself conspicuously by gallantry
and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of
duty while engaged in an action against any enemy of the United
States. The Medal is sacred among our military, and the men who
wear it are revered for their honor and courage. Many of the
awards are given posthumously to men killed in action. Today
there are fewer than a 100 living recipients.
Col. Wesley Fox: My mission on 22 February 1969 was to see
if the enemy unit was still off to the flank of our assault down
the Da Krong Valley toward Laos, and if so, to do something
about it. The fight really started after I found them. They gave
me a clue as to where they were because they opened up with a
machinegun and a mortar. We were in a dense jungle, so the
mortars did not hurt us much as they burst up in the treetops. I
focused on the source of the fire, with two platoons in the assault
and one behind me. The company commander in a situation like
that is behind his assault unit, right behind them and his reserve is
behind him, so he can decide how he is going to use the reserve
Three of these men joined the 11th Annual Conference to share to influence the situation.
their stories of valor. Moderated by Lt. General Nicholas B. Kehoe,
President of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation, It got bad when they opened up with multiple machineguns and
this panel featured Col. Wesley Fox, Col. Walter Joseph Marm, my assault stalled. What made matters worse was the realization
and Brian Thacker. Each of these three that we were facing a bigger force than my under-strength Marine
men earned their Medal for actions rifle company. I had less than 90 Marines going off the hill to
in Vietnam, fighting among a look for the fight, but then committed a squad to another
generation of American ser- assignment. That gave me less than 80 Marines going into the
vicemen who were as brave fight. To jump ahead a little bit to put that into perspective, we
and honorable as any in our counted 105 dead NVA bodies in the position when the fight
nation’s history. In this issue, was over. That gives you an idea of what we were up against in
we are proud to share their addition to the automatic weapons I mentioned.
stories of valor.
My action really comes in at the stalled point of my assault. “What
am I going to do about it?” I asked myself. The only way a
commander can know what to do about it is to check it out for
himself. That meant that I had to move forward to my advance
elements, the rifle squads of the two assaulting platoons in the
dense jungle. You could never see more than one person on your
right or your left.
When I left, I directed my small command group, my radio
operators and artillery FO to stay where they were as I moved
forward to see what my next action should be. The first Marine
I came to in the forward element was down – killed. The one to
the right of him was wounded and a corpsman was taking care
of him. The next Marine, as I moved along my front flank, was
wounded and down. At this point, I thought we were in pretty
bad shape and that I had two options: break contact and withdraw
or commit my reserve platoon.
AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Winter 2008/09 - 29
Marine Corps Photo
Well, I really wanted to break contact because I realized that we
were up against a hard wall, but we could not do it. In this jungle
to break contact and get out meant that I had to have all my
Marines with me. We do not leave any man behind. For me to
get the dead and the wounded out from under their guns was
going to cost me more Marines. Would I have enough Marines