The Army declined to comment on the award, or answer questions about the reasons for earlier delays, saying in a statement that its policy is not to discuss any award until a final decision is made. Davis, now 81, may finally be recognized. The resulting report will then go up the chain to the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of Defense and finally President Biden. Miller personally ordered an expedited review of the lost nomination, to be completed by March. Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher C. “He sure as hell deserves it now.”Īfter 55 years of trying, the group got a sign of hope in January. Deis said during an interview from his home in Anchorage, as he wiped away tears. “What other assumption can you make?” said Ron Deis, 77, who was the youngest soldier on the team in 1965 and is one of a group of veterans who are still pressing for Mr. They eventually came to believe the Army’s inaction had nothing to do with what the captain had done in 1965, and everything to do with who he was: One of the first Black officers in the Special Forces. His teammates pushed several more times over the years for the medal, only to be met, they said, with silence and indifference. His frustrated commander resubmitted it, and inexplicably the nomination disappeared again. But the Army somehow lost the nomination.
![do medal of honor recipients retire do medal of honor recipients retire](https://image.made-in-china.com/202f0j00vrKfejaobpch/Promotional-Factory-Custom-Zinc-Alloy-Marathon-Medals-with-Ribbon-Fashionable-High-Quality-Custom-Metal-Sports-Trophy-Karate-Medal-118-.jpg)
He made it out alive, and was immediately nominated for the military’s highest award, the Medal of Honor. It was June 18, 1965, and according to after-action reports, 26-year-old Captain Davis was suddenly the last American standing with a ragtag company of 90 South Vietnamese volunteers, pinned down by hundreds of enemy troops.Ĭertain that he was as good as dead, he began fighting without fear of consequence, pulling his M-16 trigger with his pinkie, sprinting repeatedly into open ground to rescue teammates, and refusing to leave the fight, even after being shot several times. His most experienced sergeant was shot down. Then enemy fire started pelting the Special Forces team he commanded.
![do medal of honor recipients retire do medal of honor recipients retire](https://tnimage.s3.hicloud.net.tw/photos/shares/AP/20180404/bc01166c918c4aee850c5d35024de215.jpg)
Paris Davis was in the thick of a pre-dawn raid on an enemy camp in Vietnam when a grenade blasted out several of his teeth and, more troubling, tore off part of his trigger finger.