VET'S MEDAL 32 YEARS LATE.Byline: Robert Burns Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. More than 30 years after his bullet-riddled body had been tagged ``killed in action'' on a Vietnam battlefield, retired Navy hospital corpsman Robert R. Ingram Robert R. Ingram (born January 20, 1945) was a United States Navy sailor and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in the Vietnam War. was awarded the Medal of Honor Medal of Honor highest American military decoration for wartime gallantry. [Am. Hist.: Misc.] See : Bravery for extraordinary courage and heroism. ``As you can see,'' President Clinton said in presenting the award Friday, ``he did not die.'' The Navy said it had lost the paperwork that would have put the petty officer on track for the Medal of Honor in 1966. When Ingram's former comrades discovered at a 1995 reunion that he was alive and had never been decorated for his heroism, they renewed the push. In November 1997, Congress authorized the decoration and waived the legal requirement that a Medal of Honor be approved within two years of the act of heroism. ``We don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. how his citation got lost all those years ago,'' Clinton said during a ceremony in the White House's State Dining Room The State Dining Room is the larger of two dining rooms on the State Floor of the White House, the home of the president of the United States. It is used for receptions, luncheons, and larger formal dinners called State Dinners for visiting heads of state. The room seats 140 guests. attended by Ingram's family and former comrades. ``But we do know why he is here today - because his friends never forgot what he did for them.'' The balding and bearded Ingram, 53, sat expressionless with his hands folded in his lap as Clinton recounted his valorous actions of March 28, 1966, in Quang Ngai province Quang Ngai (Vietnamese Quảng Ngãi; Hán Tự: ) is a province in the South Central Coast region of Vietnam, on the coast of South China Sea. It is located 883 km south of Hà Nội and 838 km north of Hồ Chí Minh City. , as told in dramatic detail in the official citation accompanying the nation's highest military honor. Ingram, now a medical service manager in Jacksonville, Fla., was a 21-year-old Navy corpsman corps·man n. 1. An enlisted person in the U.S. Navy or Marines who has been trained to give first aid and basic medical treatment, especially in combat situations. 2. when he accompanied a platoon of Marines into battle that day at the height of the Vietnam War Vietnam War, conflict in Southeast Asia, primarily fought in South Vietnam between government forces aided by the United States and guerrilla forces aided by North Vietnam. . He survived four wounds - one a bullet through the head. ``His vital signs dropped to the point that he was tagged `killed in action' and placed in the dead pile,'' Clinton said. It took Ingram eight months to recover from his wounds. ``A tree line suddenly exploded with an intense hail of automatic rifle fire from approximately 100 North Vietnamese regulars. In moments, the platoon was decimated. ``Oblivious to the danger, Petty Officer Ingram crawled across the battlefield to reach a downed Marine. As he administered aid, a bullet went through the palm of his hand. ``Calls for `corpsman' echoed across the ridge. Bleeding, he edged across the fire-swept landscape, collecting ammunition from the dead and administering aid to the wounded.'' He then was shot in the knee. Limping, he moved on to other casualties. Then a North Vietnamese soldier popped up and shot Ingram in the head. The bullet entered beneath his right eye, went through his sinuses and exited at the left side of the skull where the jaw attaches. Ingram leveled his M-14 and fired two rounds into the soldier, killing him. Later, Ingram was shot through the scrotum scrotum: see testis. and buttock but·tock n. 1. Either of the two rounded prominences on the human torso that are posterior to the hips and formed by the gluteal muscles and underlying structures. 2. buttocks The rear pelvic area of the human body. but still did not give up. ``Enduring the pain from his many wounds and disregarding the probability of his own death, Petty Officer Ingram's intrepid actions saved many lives that day,'' his citation reads. His platoon was in Company C, 1st Battalion of the 7th Marines, which arrived in Vietnam in July 1965. Ingram received the Silver Star Medal for his bravery in treating the wounded during a battle earlier in the war, but for the March 1966 engagement he received only a Purple Heart for his wounds. There was no commendation for his bravery. Navy Secretary John Dalton said Friday he did not know how Ingram's paperwork got lost. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO (Color) President Clinton shakes hands with Robert Ingram at the White House after presenting him the Medal of Honor for his heroism during the Vietnam War. J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press |
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