The overdue recognition for the 83-year-old Virginia resident comes after his recommendation for the medal was lost, resubmitted — and then lost again. Here's his story.
WASHINGTON — Nearly 60 years after he was first recommended for the nation’s highest award for bravery during the Vietnam War, retired Col. Paris Davis, one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat, will receive the prestigious Medal of Honor on Friday.
Some of Davis' supporters believe racism was to blame, but Davis doesn't dwell on it. He said he doesn't know why it has taken decades for his heroism to be recognized. He led the charge against the enemy, called for precision artillery fire, engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the North Vietnamese and thwarted the capture of three American soldiers — all while suffering multiple wounds from gunshots and grenade fragments. Davis used his pinkie finger to fire his rifle after his hand was shattered by an enemy grenade, according to reports.
“It’s just the antithesis of that,” he said. “It heightens the thing, if you’ve got to wait that long ... It’s like someone promised you an ice cream cone. You know what it looks like, what it smells like. You just haven’t licked it.” Deis, now 79, helped compile the recommendation that was submitted in 2016. He said he knew Davis had been recommended for the Medal of Honor shortly after the battle in 1965 and he spent years wondering why Davis hadn't been awarded the medal. Nine years ago he learned that a second nomination had been submitted “and that also was somehow, quote, lost.”
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