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Stumbled Across This MOH Twist


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Looking for something totally unrelated, and found this instead:

 

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: Sergeant (then Private First Class), U.S. Army, Battery C, 2nd Battalion, 4th Artillery, 9th Infantry Division
Place and date: West of Cai Lay, Republic of Vietnam, 18 November 1967
Entered service at: Indianapolis, Indiana
Born: 1 November, 1946, Dayton, Ohio

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life and beyond the call of duty. Sgt. Davis (then Pfc.) distinguished himself during the early morning hours while serving as a cannoneer with Battery C, at a remote fire support base. At approximately 0200 hours, the fire support base was under heavy enemy mortar attack. Simultaneously, an estimated reinforced Viet Cong battalion launched a fierce ground assault upon the fire support base. The attacking enemy drove to within 25 meters of the friendly positions. Only a river separated the Viet Cong from the fire support base. Detecting a nearby enemy position, Sgt. Davis seized a machine gun and provided covering fire for his guncrew, as they attempted to bring direct artillery fire on the enemy. Despite his efforts, an enemy recoilless rifle round scored a direct hit upon the artillery piece. The resultant blast hurled the guncrew from their weapon and blew Sgt. Davis into a foxhole. He struggled to his feet and returned to the howitzer, which was burning furiously. Ignoring repeated warnings to seek cover, Sgt. Davis rammed a shell into the gun. Disregarding a withering hail of enemy fire directed against his position, he aimed and fired the howitzer which rolled backward, knocking Sgt. Davis violently to the ground. Undaunted, he returned to the weapon to fire again when an enemy mortar round exploded within 20 meters of his position, injuring him painfully. Nevertheless, Sgt. Davis loaded the artillery piece, aimed and fired. Again he was knocked down by the recoil. In complete disregard for his safety, Sgt. Davis loaded and fired 3 more shells into the enemy. Disregarding his extensive injuries and his inability to swim, Sgt. Davis picked up an air mattress and struck out across the deep river to rescue 3 wounded comrades on the far side. Upon reaching the 3 wounded men, he stood upright and fired into the dense vegetation to prevent the Viet Cong from advancing. While the most seriously wounded soldier was helped across the river, Sgt. Davis protected the 2 remaining casualties until he could pull them across the river to the fire support base. Though suffering from painful wounds, he refused medical attention, joining another howitzer crew which fired at the large Viet Cong force until it broke contact and fled. Sgt. Davis' extraordinary heroism, at the risk of his life, are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Army.[4]
/S/ Lyndon B. Johnson    
 
The twist is that Sgt. Davis is the MOH recipient that you see in Forrest Gump - except that his head is replaced with that of Tom Hanks.
 
LL
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That is interesting. Thanks Loophole. I didn't see his full name in your post so I looked him up. Brave man.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_L._Davis

You can watch Sgt Davis receive his Medal of Honor from Pres. Johnson in this CSPAN Video Link at just after the 10  minute mark.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?409914-1/medal-honor-ceremony-vietnam-veterans

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30 minutes ago, Alpo said:

Not being an artilleryman, I gots to know.

 

How do you shoot a cannon that is on fire?

I don't think there was much that was burnable on the actual piece and apparently the other parts survived the flames. For direct fire you don't need the instruments.

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31 minutes ago, Alpo said:

Not being an artilleryman, I gots to know.

 

How do you shoot a cannon that is on fire?

 

 

Just a guess here, but since it was likely a towed piece what would be burning would be the tires and maybe the hydraulic fluids in the recoil system.  Actually, reading the citation and the part about the recoil knocking him down, I would bet two bits that the recoil system was leaking and on fire.  But that wouldn't prevent the purely mechanical firing mechanism from working.

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1 hour ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

 

Just a guess here, but since it was likely a towed piece what would be burning would be the tires and maybe the hydraulic fluids in the recoil system.  Actually, reading the citation and the part about the recoil knocking him down, I would bet two bits that the recoil system was leaking and on fire.  But that wouldn't prevent the purely mechanical firing mechanism from working.

Yeah. Tires and grease. 

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