President Biden on Friday at the White House awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award, to seven veterans of the U.S. Army for their heroism during the wars in Korea and Vietnam.
Private Bruno Orig, Private First Class Wataru Nakamura, Corporal Fred McGee, Private First Class Charles Johnson, Retired Gen. Richard Cavazos, Capt. Hugh Nelson Jr. and Specialist Fourth Class Kenneth David were all honored.
“These are sincere to their core heroes. Heroes of different ranks, different positions and even different generations. But heroes who all went above and beyond the call of duty. Heroes who all deserve our nation’s highest and oldest military recognition,” Biden said. .
Five of the recipients were killed in battle, including Captain Hugh Nelson Jr., the first ever graduate of South Carolina’s Citadel Military College to receive the Medal of Honor. Nelson previously received the From the US Army Distinguished Service Cross.
President Joe Biden presents the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award, to then-Private First Class Kenneth J. David, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Captain Nelson, 28, served as a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War under the 114th Aviation Company Air Mobile Light. On the fateful day of June 5, 1966, near Moc Hoa, a rural district in South Vietnam, Nelson was the acting aircraft commander on a search and destroy reconnaissance mission. The armed UH-1B Huey helicopter he was flying was struck by enemy gunfire, rendering the aircraft virtually out of control. Captain Nelson and his co-pilot were able to make an emergency landing of the aircraft without side controls.
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But they crashed in the middle of enemy positions. The crash destroyed all weapons on board. Nelson was the first of his crew to regain consciousness. He soon saw the enemy surrounding the crash site. Ignoring his own wounds and enemy fire from 30 feet away, Nelson sprang into action and began evacuating his three wounded crew members: the crew chief, the door gunner, and the co-pilot. The crew chief was trapped in the cargo hold and the door gunner was trapped in the Huey. With his bare hands, Nelson ripped off one of the helicopter doors to evacuate himself and his crew as insurgents fired bullets from 30 feet away. Nelson used his own body as a human shield as he lifted the door gunner to the ground and was killed by the gunfire after being shot between six and twenty times in the process.
Captain Hugh Nelson is the first graduate of The Citadel to receive the award. (US Army)
Nelson’s sacrifice allowed the wounded specialist to signal support with a smoke grenade. Ssupport aircraft responded immediately, preventing the insurgents from advancing on the downed aircraft and successfully rescuing the three injured crew members and the remains of Captain Nelson.
Nelson’s daughter Debra McKnight accepted the award on her father’s behalf White House Ceremony. She was only five years old and her brother, Hugh Nelson III, was six months old when their father left for Fort Bragg, now called Fort Liberty, to begin his tour of Vietnam. The Army notified Nelson’s family that he had been killed in battle just one day before his son’s first birthday.
“Nelson’s conscious decision to sacrifice his own life for the lives of his comrades saved the lives of his three fellow crew members that fateful day,” his Medal of Honor citation reads. “Nelson’s distinguished achievements are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.”
Captain Nelson graduated from the Citadel in 1959. Before the fateful battle, he served for three years in Taiwan. His co-captain who was rescued was Captain Bailey Jones. Jones also graduated from The Citadel, in the class of 1964.
Tomas Fitzpatrick, the top Army ROTC cadet at the Citadel, attended Friday’s ceremony.
Nelson’s daughter Debra McKnight accepted the award on her father’s behalf during the ceremony at the White House. (Swimming pool)
“Captain Hugh Nelson’s sacrifice is a powerful reminder of the values we uphold at The Citadel – honor, duty and respect. As someone who plans to enlist in the U.S. Army upon graduation, we all strive to lead with equal courage and dedication,” said Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick will join the Army Infantry after graduation in May. The Citadel’s Army ROTC department is one of the largest commissioning organizations in the country. In 2024 alone, 120 Army 2nd Lieutenants were commissioned.
“Captain Hugh Reavis Nelson, Jr. exemplified the highest values of courage, selflessness and leadership that we instill in every Citadel cadet. Nelson’s service to his comrades and country remains an enduring inspiration to us all,” said Citadel President General Glenn Walters said in a statement.
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“To learn these stories of Americans like Bruno and Wataru, and Fred, and Charlie, Richard, Hugh, Ken, Americans who not only fought for our nation, but who embodied the very best our nation has to offer. Let me also say this today: we reward these individuals with a medal of honor. We cannot stop here, because as a nation it is up to us to give meaning to this medal, to keep fighting, to keep fighting for each other, for each other, to keep defending everything that these heroes have fought for and that many of died for them. ,” Biden said.
