PROFILES OF THOSE WHO SERVED
Patrick Henry Brady
U.S. Army/Vietnam
B
orn
O c t . 1, 1936,
in
Philip, South Dakota, Pat
Brady received the Medal
of Honor on Oct. 9, 1969, for
conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity
in action Jan. 6, 1968, in Vietnam
while he was serving with the 54th
Medical Detachment.
A major at the time, Brady was
commanding a UH-1H ambulance
helicopter when he volunteered to
rescue wounded men from a site
in enemy-held territory which was
reported to be heavily defended and
blanketed by fog. He was supposed
to be off duty at the time, a profile on
the Medal of Honor Museum’s website
states.
To reach the location, he
descended through heavy fog and
smoke and hovered slowly along a
valley trail, turning his helicopter
sideward to blow away the fog with
the backwash from his rotor blades.
Despite the unchallenged, close-
range enemy fire, he found the
dangerously small site, successfully
landed and evacuated two badly
wounded South Vietnamese soldiers.
He was then called to another
foggy where two other aircraft
had previously been shot down and
still others had made unsuccessful
attempts to rescue Americans trapped
there earlier in the day, according to
Brady’s Congressional Medal of Honor
citation.
“With unmatched skill and
extraordinary courage, Maj. Brady
14
M E D A L O F H O N O R 2020
“With unmatched skill and extraordinary
courage, Maj. Brady ... successfully rescued all
the wounded.”
made four flights to this embattled
landing zone and successfully rescued
all the wounded,” his citation reads.
Then, on Brady’s third mission that
day, he once again landed at a site
surrounded by the enemy. Although
his helicopter had been badly damaged
and his controls partially shot away
during his initial entry into that area,
he returned minutes later and rescued
the remaining injured.
Brady then flew a replacement
aircraft into an enemy minefield
where a platoon of American soldiers
was trapped. A mine detonated
near his helicopter, wounding two
crewmembers and damaging the
aircraft. In spite of that, he managed
to fly six severely injured patients to
medical aid.
Throughout that day, Brady flew
three different helicopters to evacuate
a total of 51 seriously wounded men,
many of whom would have perished
without prompt medical treatment,
his citation stated.