Melvin Morris
U.S. Army/Vietnam
B
O kmulgee , O klahoma
on Jan. 7, 1942, Melvin Morris
received the Congressional
Medal of Honor for valorous actions
on Sept. 17, 1969, while he was a staff
sergeant in the U.S. Army in Vietnam.
Morris was awarded his MOH on
March 18, 2014.
At the ceremony, then-President
Barack Obama said “Morris led an
advance across enemy lines to retrieve
a fallen comrade. He single-handedly
destroyed an enemy force who had
pinned his battalion down in a series
of bunkers. Morris was shot three
times running back to the “American
lines with casualties but did not stop
until he reached safety.”
“Staff Sergeant Morris, 27 years
old, was one of our nation’s very first
Green Berets,” President Obama said.
“I mean one of our very first Green
Berets, think about that, I mean that’s
legendary.”
orn in
MEDAL OF HONOR 2 0 2 0
25