WASHINGTON: Retired Colonel Paris Davis, one of the first black officers to command a special forces team in combat, has been recommended for the nation's highest military honor nearly 60 years ago. On Friday, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism during the Vietnam War.
After a crowded ceremony at the White House, Davis expressed his gratitude and said, "It is in America's best interest that we do things like this," focusing on the respect rather than the lack of delay.
He greeted President Joe Biden and thanked him before saying, "God bless you, God bless everyone, God bless America." The 83-year-old Virginian's recommendation for the medal was lost, resubmitted and finally recognized.
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Advocates painstakingly reconstructed and resubmitted the paperwork in 2016, fifty years after Davis risked his life to save some of his men from the fire.
According to Biden, Davis risked his life while under heavy enemy fire to rescue wounded soldiers under his command, who called him a "true hero" for doing so.
According to Biden, Davis replied, "Sir, I'm not going to leave now," when a superior ordered him to security. I still have an American with me. To get to a wounded doctor, he returned to the shelling.
Davis was told by Biden, "You are everything this medal means." Brave and kind, devoted and determined, selfless and unwavering.
Biden argued that Davis should have received the award long ago, citing isolation upon his return to the US and taking issue with why it took so long.
According to Biden, the paperwork "never got processed". never just once. Twice though." Davis downplays the deferred honor and claims he has no idea why it took so long for it to happen.
"Right now I'm overwhelmed," he told the AP in a meeting Thursday on the eve of the awards ceremony.
You don't think about it in the moment when you're fighting, Davis said. All you want to do is get out of that position. In mid-June 1965, "that moment" lasted approximately 19 hours and two days.
During a dawn raid on a North Vietnamese Army camp in the village of Bảng Son in Binh Dinh Province, Davis, then a captain and commander with the 5th Special Forces Group, was engaged in near-constant combat.
While wounded by bullets and grenade fragments, he engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the North Vietnamese, ordered accurate artillery fire, and prevented the capture of three American soldiers. After his hand was shattered by an enemy grenade, he used his pinky finger to fire his rifle.
According to ArmyTimes, Davis repeatedly ran into the open rice pitch to save teammates. His entire team went ahead. According to Biden, the word "courage" is not used very often these days. However, I don't have words to describe Paris.
Davis, who was born in Cleveland and retired as a colonel in 1985, now lives in Alexandria, Virginia, not far from Washington. A few weeks ago, Biden called him to break the bad news. He claims that waiting does not diminish the honor in any way.
If you have to wait that long, it adds to the experience, he said. It's like you were promised an ice cream cone. You are familiar with how it looks and smells. Simply put, you haven't licked it.
The paperwork recommending Davis for the highest military honor went missing, despite his commanding officer's recommendation. His recommendation for the Medal of Honor disappeared, according to Davis' team, but he eventually received the Silver Star, the third-highest war decoration in the military.
"I believe someone intentionally lost the paperwork," Ron Deas, a junior member of Davis' team at Bong Son, told the AP in a separate interview.
Deas, now 79, contributed to the creation of the 2016 recommendation. He claimed that Davis was nominated for the Medal of Honor shortly after the 1965 battle and wondered for years why it was not given. He learned nine years earlier that a second nomination had been made "and that too had somehow been lost."
Des said, "But I don't think they were lost." I think they were thrown on purpose. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that he was rejected because he was black.
According to Army officials, there is no evidence of racism in Davis's case.
According to Major General Patrick Roberson, deputy commanding general of the US Army Special Operations Command, "We are here to celebrate the fact that he has received a long-awaited award." "We, the military, haven't been able to find anything that would indicate that it was racism, you know. We couldn't find that out," Roberson argued.
In early 2021, Christopher Miller, who was then acting secretary of defense, requested an expedited review of Davis's position. Later that year, he argued in a column that awarding Davis the Medal of Honor would correct an injustice.
In our country, there are some issues that transcend partisanship, Miller wrote. "The Davis case satisfies that requirement."
Regan Davis Hopper, a mother of two teenage sons and Davis' daughter, revealed to the AP that she was only made aware of her father's bravery in 2019.
Like him, she said she makes an effort not to dwell on her dissatisfaction with the way things were handled. I make an effort not to consider that. I make an effort not to let that depress me or cause me to lose the thrill and excitement of the situation, said Hopper.
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I believe that's the most crucial thing to simply think ahead and consider how exciting it is for America to finally meet my dad. I simply admire him.
