President Biden is awarding the Medal of Honor to Ret. Army Col. Paris Davis today for his heroism during the Vietnam War nearly 60 years ago.
Davis was one of the first Black officers in the Army's elite Green Berets, but his nomination for the nation's highest combat decoration mysteriously vanished twice at the height of the civil rights movement. "And I think that's a shame," Regan Davis Hopper, his daughter, told CBS News' Catherine Herridge ahead of Friday's ceremony."Discrimination hurts us all, not just the individual, but our entire country.
Davis saved the lives of two of his troops on the battlefield in Vietnam and ignored an order to evacuate during intense fighting in 1965. His commanding officer, Billy Cole, later nominated him for the Medal of Honor. But then the paperwork mysteriously vanished. A 1969 military review"did not reveal any file" on Davis.
The nomination was recommended by senior defense officials and ultimately approved by Mr. Biden, who called Davis last month to tell him he would receive the Medal of Honor"for his remarkable heroism during the Vietnam War," according to a White House statement. "I am so very grateful for my family and friends within the military and elsewhere who kept alive the story of A-team, A-321 at Camp Bong Son," he said."I think often of those fateful 19 hours on June 18, 1965 and what our team did to make sure we left no man behind on that battlefield."
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