"Robert Green" wrote:
-snip-
Amen. See the tale of Corpsman Wayne Caron below.
Saw that one before. 'just another day at the office for an HM3'.
What happened to Emilio De La Garza in your database? I missed
him in the D's and the g's - and don't want to wait to see if he's
with the L's.
*DE LA GARZA, EMILIO A., JR.
Rank and organization: Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Company E,
2d Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division. Place and date: Near
Da Nang, Republic of Vietnam, 11 April 1970. Entered service at:
Chicago, 111. Born: 23 June 1949, East Chicago, Ind. Citation: For
conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above
and beyond the call of duty while serving as a machine gunner with
Company E. Returning with his squad from a night ambush operation,
L/Cpl. De La Garza joined his platoon commander and another marine in
searching for 2 enemy soldiers who had been observed fleeing for cover
toward a small pond. Moments later, he located 1 of the enemy soldiers
hiding among the reeds and brush. As the 3 marines attempted to remove
the resisting soldier from the pond, L/Cpl. De La Garza observed him
pull the pin on a grenade. Shouting a warning, L/Cpl. De La Garza
placed himself between the other 2 marines and the ensuing blast from
the grenade, thereby saving the lives of his comrades at the sacrifice
of his life. By his prompt and decisive action, and his great personal
valor in the face of almost certain death, L/Cpl. De La Garza upheld
and further enhanced the finest traditions of the Marine Corps and the
U.S. Naval Service.
xxxxxxxxxxx
What the citation doesn't say is that he was on the 10th month of his
tour. He'd only gotten to 2/1 a couple months before when 3rd
Marines went home. 2/1 was still packing and we were getting all
the guys who weren't short enough to take the boat back to the states
with the gear.
So he was a short timer with a fairly new unit. . . oh-- and he had a
19 month old daughter back home.
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/l...12e66d6df.html
Though I was in 2/1 and probably within earshot of the incident, I
never heard about it until I was reading MOH citations 25 years later.
Jim