First Black physician to hold a military commission and the first woman commander of a military hospital

Clotilde (Klow-TILL-da) Dent Bowen was one of many outstanding women who served with distinction. She was the first African American woman to graduate from Ohio State University's School of Medicine, one of the first female doctors in the Army, the first Black physician to hold a military commission, and the first woman commander of a military hospital. In 1970, Colonel Bowen served in Vietnam as the Neuro-Psychiatric Physician for the entire U.S. Army. She was an advocate on issues related to drugs and alcohol and post-traumatic stress disorder and worked to lessen racial conflicts during the Vietnam War. She was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the American Legion of Merit in 1971, and the Meritorious Service Medal in 1974.

Medal of Honor Recipient

In June 1965, First Lieutenant Charles Williams was serving in Detachment A, 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces when hostile forces attacked his camp. In a nightmarish fight that lasted 14 hours, he was wounded multiple times but still directed defenses using flares as reference points to air strikes. He inspired his team to hold out against the insurgent forces. As the Vietcong continued to besiege the stronghold, firing a machine gun directly south of the building, Williams and a volunteer took a rocket launcher and worked their way across open terrain. The sight was faulty on the rocket launcher, but they hit the machine gun and took it out of action. Both men were wounded on the way back, but Williams continued to direct the air strikes, and evacuated his team. An inspiration to his men, he was undaunted by the assault.

Medal of Honor Recipient

Sergeant First Class Rodney Yano (YAH-no) served with the Air Calvery Troop, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. In 1969, in dense jungle near Bien Hao (Bin-WHA), he was aboard a command-and-control helicopter when they began receiving intense fire. He fired back and marked their positions with smoke and white phosphorous grenades, so the commander could direct more accurate artillery fire against the enemy. One of those grenades exploded prematurely, covering him with burning phosphorous and detonating the ammunition in the helicopter. The pilot lost control, but Yano began hurling burning ammunition from the helicopter. His bravery cost him his life, but the pilot was able to regain control of the aircraft because of Yano's actions, which helped save the lives of the other crew members.

Medal of Honor Recipient

Before entering the Army, Clarence Eugene Sasser was a chemistry major at the University of Houston. He came from a poor farming family and paying for college was a challenge, so he decided to pick up more work hours and go part-time at school, making him eligible for the draft. At 19 years old, the Army trained him to be a medic. In January of 1968, Private First Class Clarence Eugene Sasser was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division. On a reconnaissance force operation during an air assault in the Mekong (ME-Kong) Delta, his unit took heavy fire from a well-fortified enemy position. In just 30 minutes, they had 30 casualties. He recalled the attack and said, “We go in, and the helicopter started taking fire. One of the helicopters got hit, and went down. Fire was all around us, with the helicopter down, there wasn't any choice, we had to go in.” Without hesitation, Sasser ran across an open rice paddy through a hail of fire to assist the wounded.

He said, “I learned early on the best way to get around that day was to simply grab the rice and slide yourself along, you can move better like that, and if you stand up you’re dead, especially if they see your bag, they know you're a medic and if they killed a medic, probably a lot of people would die. That was the rationale.” Despite being attacked and wounded, he searched the rice paddy for hours, bringing others to safety and attending to their wounds.

After a harrowing night, they were evacuated early in the morning. Receiving the Medal of Honor was a confirmation to him that he had done a good job. He said, “I don't think what I did was above and beyond. I never have. And I haven't made a point of it, but being one of two Black guys (who were awarded the Medal of Honor) who are alive now, I think it means a lot to the country that I am who I am.”

Medal of Honor Recipient

Master Sergeant Jose Rodela (Ro-DEL-ah) received the Medal of Honor for valorous actions on September 1, 1969, while serving in Detachment B-36, Company A, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces. He was a company commander in Phuoc Long (Foo-OCK-long) Province, Vietnam. Rodela commanded his company throughout eighteen hours of continuous attack. Throughout the battle, in spite of his wounds, Rodela repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire to attend to the fallen and eliminate an enemy rocket position.

Medal of Honor Recipient

In May of 1968, Staff Sergeant Roy Benavidez (Ben-ah-VEE-dez) was assigned to Detachment B56, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces. He volunteered to help extract a Special Forces Reconnaissance Team, but when he arrived, he realized everyone on the team was either dead or wounded. President Ronald Reagan, who awarded Benavidez (Ben-ah-VEE-dez) the Medal of Honor, remarked that, “If the story of his heroism were a movie script, you would not believe it.” He was severely wounded while saving lives as well as classified materials, and was taken for dead when he arrived back at base camp. He ultimately was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, four Purple Hearts and the Medal of Honor. His citation noted that “His fearless personal leadership, tenacious devotion to duty and extremely valorous actions in the face of overwhelming odds were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service, and reflect the utmost credit on him and the United States Army.”

It took almost thirteen years to recognize Benavidez (Ben-ah-VEE-dez), and he was not the only one to be awarded the Medal of Honor many years after his heroic acts. More than a decade ago, Congress directed a review of military records to ensure that leadership had not overlooked or rejected acts of heroism deserving of the Medal of Honor because of prejudice or discrimination.

Medal of Honor Recipient

On Jan. 31, 1968, a large North Vietnamese element attacked Birdwell’s unit — Troop C, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry, 25th Infantry Division — at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, just outside of Saigon on the first day of what would later become known as the Tet Offensive. Birdwell’s unit bore the brunt of the initial attack, which destroyed many of the unit’s vehicles and incapacitating Birdwell’s tank commander. Under heavy small-arms fire, Birdwell moved his commander to a place of safety and slid into the commander’s hatch.

Armed with the tank’s machine gun and cannon and his M16 rifle, Birdwell fired upon the North Vietnamese. When he exhausted all of his ammunition, Birdwell dismounted and maneuvered to his squadron commander’s helicopter, which had been downed by enemy fire, and retrieved two machine guns and ammunition, with which he and a comrade suppressed the enemy. His machine gun was struck by enemy rounds and exploded, injuring his face and torso.

Birdwell refused evacuation and moved amongst the disabled vehicles and defensive positions, collecting ammunition to distribute to the remaining defenders. While under harassing fire, Birdwell led a small group of defenders past the enemy force and engaged the enemy with hand grenades, disrupting their assault until reinforcements arrived. Birdwell continued to treat wounded until he was ordered to seek medical attention.

Medal of Honor Recipient

During April 14-15, 1972, Duffy, part of Team 162 Military Assistance Command-Vietnam, was senior advisor to the South Vietnamese 11th Airborne Battalion at Fire Support Base Charlie in South Vietnam. In the days before, the enemy had destroyed the battalion command post, and the 11th’s commander had been killed; Duffy himself was twice wounded.

But instead of being evacuated, Duffy led a two-day defense of the surrounded FSB against a battalion-sized enemy force.

During the attack Duffy moved himself close to the enemy, to an exposed position, in order to call in air strikes. Despite being injured again after being struck by fragments from a recoilless rifle round, Duffy stayed and directed U.S. helicopter gunships onto enemy anti-aircraft and artillery positions.

After a severe, 300-artillery-round attack on the base, Duffy personally ensured the wounded troops were moved to safer positions and distributed ammunition to the remaining defenders.

That afternoon, the enemy began a ground assault on the firebase from all sides. Duffy moved from position to position to spot targets for artillery and to adjust fires. The next morning, after the 11th survived an ambush, Duffy led wounded to an evacuation area while in continual pursuit by the enemy.

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Medal of Honor Recipient

As a crew chief serving with the 237th Medical Detachment, 61st Medical Battalion, 67th Medical Group, Fujii engaged in rescue operations that transported injured South Vietnamese personnel over Laos and the Republic of Vietnam on Feb. 18, 1971. During a second approach to a hot landing zone, the enemy concentrated a barrage of flak at Fujii’s helicopter, causing it to crash in the conflict area, injuring Fujii.

A second helicopter was able to land and load all of his fellow downed airmen. However, Fujii was not able to board because the enemy directed fire on him. Rather than endanger the lives aboard the second helicopter, Fujii waved it off to leave the combat area. Subsequent attempts to rescue him were aborted due to the violent anti-aircraft fire. Fujii secured a radio and informed the aviators in the area that the landing zone was too hot for further evacuation attempts. Fujii remained as the lone American on the ground, treating the injuries of South Vietnam troops throughout the night and the next day.

On the night of Feb. 19, their perimeter came under assault by an enemy regiment and artillery fire. He called U.S. gunships to aid their small force in the battle. For more than 17 hours, Fujii repeatedly exposed himself to hostile fire as he left his entrenchment to observe enemy troop positions and direct air strikes against them. At times the group’s survival was so tentative that Fujii was forced to interrupt radio transmittal in order to place suppressive rifle fire on the enemy while at close quarters.

Though wounded and severely fatigued, Fujii’s actions led to the successful defense of the South Vietnamese troops and their encampment.

Then, after a helicopter was finally able to airlift him from the battle, enemy rounds pierced its hull forcing it to crash-land at a friendly camp, where Fujii would spend another two days before being evacuated.

Medal of Honor Recipient

In a village near Phu Huu 2, a large North Vietnamese contingent ambushed two squads from Kaneshiro’s platoon on Dec. 1, 1966. Kaneshiro, a squad leader with Troop C, First Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, was scouting land east of the village at the time of the attack.

Kaneshiro directed his squad toward the sound of the fire, where enemy forces had killed his platoon leader and several other Soldiers, and had his two sister squads pinned down. Kaneshiro swiftly read the situation and realized that the fire from a machine-gun bunker and large concealed trench had to be stopped if anyone were to survive. Kaneshiro deployed his men to cover, then crawled forward, alone, to attack the enemy force.

While flattened to the ground he was somehow able to throw a grenade through the aperture of the bunker, eliminating it as a threat. Next he leapt into the trench and single-handedly worked his way down its entire 35-meter length, destroying one group of enemies with his rifle and two more enemy groups with grenades.

Kaneshiro’s assault allowed the pinned-down squads to survive and prepare their casualties for evacuation. His actions enabled the orderly extrication and reorganization of the platoon.

Kaneshiro would continue his tour in Vietnam until his passing on March 6, 1967, when he died by enemy gunshot wound at the age of 38.