The first Medal of Honor awarded to a U.S. serviceman for
action in Vietnam was presented to Capt. Roger Donlon
of Saugerties, New York, for his heroic action earlier in
the year.
Captain Donlon and his Special Forces team were manning
Camp Nam Dong, a mountain outpost near the borders of
Laos and North Vietnam.
Just before two o’clock in the morning on July 6, 1964, hordes
of Viet Cong attacked the camp. He was shot in the stomach,
but Donlon stuffed a handkerchief into the wound, cinched up
his belt, and kept fighting.
He was wounded three more times, but he continued fighting,
manning a mortar, throwing grenades at the enemy, and
refusing medical attention.
President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded Captain Roger
Donlon the Medal of Honor.
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