Army Specialist Leslie Sabo Jr. was finally awarded posthumously the Medal of Honor over 40 years later.
Less than a month after proposing to his fiance he was drafted. He was a European immigrant who's family had fled the Soviet/communist take over.
He ended up in the 101st Airborne and in 1970 was on a classified mission operating in Cambodia to try to prevent North Vietnamese forces from cutting through there into southern Vietnam. His unit was ambushed by a much larger force.
Quote:
The 22-year-old rifleman from Ellwood City, Pa., charged the enemy position, killing several soldiers, and then attacked an enemy flanking force, drawing fire away from his comrades.
As the enemy retreated, a grenade landed near Sabo and a wounded American soldier. Sabo picked it up and threw it, while shielding his comrade with his own body. The grenade blast badly injured Sabo, but he continued to charge the bunker.
Crawling toward the enemy stronghold, Sabo was shot multiple times by automatic weapons fire. When he managed to reach the opening of the bunker, he tossed in a grenade, silencing all enemy fire. That same grenade also ended Sabo's life.
His wife realized something terrible had happened when she stopped getting her regular letters from him. She was not told of his death until later and then she was she was told a false story that he had been killed by a sniper while guarding an ammo dump (probably because we were not "officially" supposed to be fighting in Cambodia).
His real story and file was "lost" until 1999 when someone found it and had been trying to bring his story to light since now when he was finally awarded the Medal of Honor.
So Hats of to him. Much respect to him his unit, and all the other Vets of the Vietnam Conflict!
I saw this on the news tonight. From the firsthand report of his feller, I believe he would be a good man to have been fighting with. The most touching part of the news report was his fellow soldier saying that carrying his body out the next day was much more tramatic than the firefight.
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Here's our good old, but slow government rewarding our heroes. The cowards in charge finally get around to honor those who keep them happy, safe, and sound as they lay around getting fat off the profits of war.
Throw out a few medals, have a couple of parades, make a little speech, and make the warriors feel all warm and fuzzy. Until the next time...
I'm glad Sabo has received the recognition he was due.
I regret that a dickhead who never served a day in his life, who holds service personnel in contempt, and who has no respect at all for the valorous because he personally has a yellow stripe running down his back, was privileged to present the Medal to Sabo's heirs. Soneone who has been awarded the Medal of Honor deserves better than that.
The dickhead did it for political recognition not for respect. He needs to be reelected to continue the destruction of what the Medal of Honor stands for. Army Specialist Leslie Sabo Jr. deserves this honor, but not from a coward...
This soldier is what a true hero is. Lately, we have used the term hero for everyday soldiers, firefighters and LEOs and forgotten what real heroic actions are. Giving ones life to save ones comrades is true heroism.
As for Obama awarding it, that is the job assigned to the President. If this family had to wait for a military veteran President to get the medal, they would be in for a much longer wait since Romney avoided the draft, ala Clinton, and did not serve as well.
__________________
If you run, you'll just die tired.
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