Robert Ingram
U.S. Marine Corps/Vietnam
F
or conspicuous gallantry
and intrepidity at the risk of
his life above and beyond the
call of duty while serving as Corpsman
with Company C, First Battalion,
Seventh Marines against elements of
a North Vietnam Aggressor (NVA)
battalion in Quang Ngai Province
Republic of Vietnam on March 28,
1966, Robert Ingram was awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor. Petty
Officer Ingram accompanied the point
platoon as it aggressively dispatched
an outpost of an NVA battalion. The
momentum of the attack rolled off a
ridge line down a tree covered slope
to a small paddy and a village beyond.
Suddenly, the village tree line exploded
with an intense hail of automatic
rifle fire from approximately 100
North Vietnamese regulars. In mere
moments, the platoon ranks were
decimated. Oblivious to the danger,
Petty Officer Ingram crawled across
the bullet spattered terrain to reach
a downed Marine.
As he administered
aid, a bullet went
through the palm
of his hand. Calls
for “CORPSMAN”
echoed across the
ridge. Bleeding,
he edged across
the fire-swept
landscape, collecting
ammunition from
the dead and
administering aid
to the wounded.
Receiving two more
wounds before
realizing the third
wound was life-
threatening, he
looked for a way off the face of the
ridge, but again he heard the call for
corpsman and again, he resolutely
20
M E D A L O F H O N O R 2020
“By his indomitable fighting spirit, daring
initiative, and unfaltering dedications to duty,
Petty Officer Ingram reflected great credit upon
himself and upheld the highest traditions of the
United States Naval Service.”
answered. Though severely wounded
three times, he rendered aid to those
incapable until he finally reached
the right flank of the platoon. While
dressing the head wound of another
corpsman, he sustained his fourth
bullet wound. From sixteen hundred
hours until just prior to sunset, Petty
Officer Ingram pushed, pulled, cajoled,
and doctored his Marines. Enduring
the pain from his many wounds and
disregarding the probability of his
demise, Petty Officer Ingram’s intrepid
actions saved many lives that day. By
his indomitable fighting spirit, daring
initiative, and unfaltering dedications
to duty, Petty Officer Ingram reflected
great credit upon himself and upheld
the highest traditions of the United
States Naval Service.