Two Vietnam War soldiers one still living, one killed in action received the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony today, nearly 50 years after they threw themselves into harm's way to protect their brothers in combat.
President Barack Obama praised the soldiers as patriots whose sacrifices had never been fully realised by a nation divided over the legacy of the Vietnam War.
Army Command Sgt. Maj. Bennie G. Adkins survived his injuries. Army Spc. Donald P. Sloat did not. It took an act of Congress to allow each to receive the medal so many decades after the fact.
"Over the decades, our Vietnam veterans didn't always receive the thanks and respect they deserved. That's a fact," Obama said in the East Room. "But as we have been reminded again today, our Vietnam vets were patriots and are patriots."
"You served with valour, you made us proud, and your service is with us for eternity," Obama told the audience, which included Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel himself a Vietnam veteran and others who received the Medal of Honor after coming home from the rice paddies of Vietnam.
Drafted into the Army at age 22 from his home in rural Oklahoma, Adkins was deployed three times to Vietnam with the Special Forces.
He was already being recognised for actions during his second combat tour when, in 1966, a large North Vietnamese force attacked his camp.
For 38 hours, Adkins fought in close combat against enemy forces, dodging exploding mortar rounds as he dragged wounded soldiers to safety. When the order was finally given to evacuate camp, Adkins refused to leave comrades behind.
By the time he and his group made its way to the extraction point, the last evacuation helicopter had left. So Adkins led his fellow soldiers into the jungle, where they evaded enemy soldiers and even a tiger before being evacuated 48 hours later.
Adkins, now a much older version of himself and walking with a cane, stood tall in his blue uniform and epaulettes, saluting fellow troops after Obama draped the medal around his neck.
