@WuWei have you heard of this gentleman or meet him?
“SPECIAL FORCES SOLDIER MAY RECEIVE THE MEDAL OF HONOR, 56 YEARS LATER”
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Heard of. There is quite a bit of talk about this among the boys.
In support or do they think it might be politics? I am just wondering, the write up looks like he deserves it but as you know most write ups makes you look like you walk on water.
In support. If Billy Waugh says it, it happened.
WOW - what a story.
How could they lose that application?
He was black…lol but there is no systemic racism in the army back then…
Allan
Btw duplicate thread. I posted about this great American days ago.
Allan
25% of deaths were black. No escaping that one.
You might want to do a little research before you start slinging mud.
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I’m going to address this bull ■■■■ because it is an affront to my Regiment.
10.6% of the soldiers who served in Vietnam were black. Fewer in Special Forces, then and now. Just the way it is. There is no conspiracy to keep anybody out. Any soldier who gets in earned it. Especially back then.
There were 261 Medals of Honor earned in Vietnam. Of those so far, 22 were earned by black warriors. 8.4%
The 8.4 lightly lower than the 10.6, but as far as I know, there were no race based equity quotas for the MOH.
Of those 22, 3 were earned by Special Forces soldiers who happened to be black. 13.6%. If the DOD does the right thing, 23 and 4.
There were 26 MOH earned by SF soldiers in Vietnam by my count. Those 3 represent 11.6% of that total. I don’t know what the percentage of black soldiers in SF was in 1965, it’s about 6% now. It was probably less then. I do know every one of that 6% is a stud.
Most of the rest of those earned by Army personnel went to paratroopers. The remainder to Marines.
Paratroopers have to volunteer for the duty and they know when they do, they will be in combat.
Earning a Medal of Honor is not something that is sought, it is not a goal. It is recognition of actions taken in response to several different factors - unit, mission, place, enemy, circumstances, witnesses, how the recommendation was written or read.
Many of the Special Forces missions were classified, on the wrong side of a border or there were no witnesses who survived.
MACV was run by conventional military personnel, many of whom hated SF. ■■■■ bird Abrams (tanker) hated all paratroopers when he had it from '68-'72. Westmoreland had MACV in 1965, he was a paratrooper in Korea. But his relationship with SF wasn’t always the best. He was an artillery officer - Big Army.
Infantry soldiers do not sit on medal recommendation review boards, nor did Special Forces officers. Getting a MOH through is a tough process, a high standard - as it should be.
For every one Medal approved, there are probably two more that should or could have been.
Once a recognition has been decided upon, the process is even more difficult, as the case is considered closed - unless someone fights to get it opened. And yes, paperwork is “lost”. There are ■■■■ birds in the military who will intentionally “lose” paperwork. And yes, there are racists.
The Medal also has some unofficial “political implications”.
I don’t know Colonel (then Captain) Paris Davis. I do know who SGM Billy Waugh is. If SGM Waugh says the Captain earned, he earned it.
Captain Paris was awarded a Soldier’s Medal at the time for this action. The Soldier’s Medal, while nothing to sneeze at, is not a war time medal. I don’t know why that was the determination. It could have been because it was early in the conflict, somebody needed to meet a quota or whatever. Or because he is black.
In my opinion it is not the appropriate recognition for actions while engaged with the enemy. But I don’t sit on the review board either.
The good news is he had teammates who kept fighting for him, so hopefully it will be upgraded. The type of man who earns an MOH would never ask for it. Everyone of the few I served with would tell you but quick they were “just doing their job” and “my teammate deserved it more”.
Yes, racism existed in the military in 1965. Yes, it still exists today. But as we can see, it wasn’t institutional. The Army and especially Special Forces, was not conspiring to not award the MOH to a given race.
It may have been a factor in Colonel Davis’ case, I don’t know. Much more likely it was either incompetence or (less likely) spite for some imagined grievance on the part of some petty ■■■■ bird.
The fact that the man led an A-Team that had SGM Waugh on it in combat tells me all I need to know about his ability to soldier.
So next time before you get flippant and start throwing accusations around, it would behoove you to do a little research on an organization of which you’ll never be a part and about which you know nothing.
Thus endeth the lesson.
Oh and lol back.
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How do you lose a MOH application?
Someone did not want him to get it. Pure and simple.
Allan
Allan
This story has killed my liking of the movie Glory. 
Another bit from my Regiment;
This is Sp/5 Gibbs, the first female ever assigned to an SF Group. Oct '72.
She was a clerk/typist.
Of course the beret thing was subsequently corrected.
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Lucian Adams won the MoH for single-handedly bringing a Zoot Suit Riot down on a series of German machine gun emplacements, re-establishing badly needed supply lines to American companies.
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Great post. Loved the stats and analysis.
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Why haven’t Brandon and Milley Vanilli done something with this?
Was there a difference in front line soldiers vs. support troops, re: ethnic make up?
Disrespectful labels, aside, I agree.
Very much so. Still is. Culture.
