Sunday, January 12, 2014

SOLDIER IN VIETNAM REFUSED TREATMENT, KEPT FIGHTING

I get to hang around heroes all the time and one of the greatest moments in my life was spending time with Sammy Davis and his wife Dixie. The Orlando Nam Knights had a fundraiser for Homes For Our Troops two years ago and Sammy was the guest of honor. I had known him for years but never had a chance to really talk to him for very long before this event. Sammy and other Medal of Honor Heroes had done a PSA for veterans to seek help with PTSD and heal. I asked him if he wanted to add anything to what he said in that documentary. He had plenty to say. I asked Sammy what it was like coming home and that was the first time I heard the story of what happened to him at the airport. He had been beaten and had dog crap smeared on him after he had been wounded and earned the Medal of Honor. None of that stopped Sammy because he went on to serve in the National Guards later. That is how amazing he is, as if the actions he had taken in Vietnam were not impressive enough. Sammy had a message for the troops and all veterans. "We're not supposed to forget about it" and he wants them to talk about it. You can watch the videos I filmed below. I am so happy UT San Diego did this piece on Sammy. He is truly remakable
SOLDIER IN VIETNAM REFUSED TREATMENT, KEPT FIGHTING
By U-T San Diego
JAN. 12, 2014

One in a series on recipients of the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for military valor.

Sgt. SAMMY L. DAVIS

Received medal: Nov. 19, 1968

Pfc. Sammy Davis joined the Army after high school in 1966, requesting artillery because his grandfather had done the same job during World War II.

A member of Battery C, 2nd Battalion, 4th Artillery, 9th Infantry Division, Davis and his unit were west of Cai Lay in Vietnam on Nov. 18, 1967, when they came under heavy mortar attack from the Viet Cong.

About 1,500 enemy soldiers began an intense ground attack, halted by a river separating them from the Americans.

The Army unit had four guns and 42 men and had taken a helicopter to the area to set up a remote fire support base.

Davis got his hands on a machine gun, covering for his gun crew, but the enemy’s recoilless rifle round hit the squad’s howitzer and tossed Davis into a foxhole.

He was seriously wounded, but when he regained consciousness, Davis fired one last round from the damaged artillery before being overrun.

He loaded a shell into the howitzer and fired at the enemy.
read more here

May 7, 2012
At the Orlando Nam Knights fundraiser for Homes For Our Troops, Vietnam Veteran and Medal of Honor hero Sammy Davis talked to me about what it was like coming home after all he'd been through. It is a story few have heard before. As Sammy put it, it is one of the reasons no other veteran will ever come home treated like that again.

May 8, 2012
Vietnam Medal of Honor Sammy Davis has a message to all the troops coming home. Talk about it! Don't try to forget it but you can make peace with it. Dixie Davis has a message for the spouses too. Help them to talk about it with you or with someone else.

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