Washington ― President Donald Trump on Monday awarded the Medal of Honor at the White House to Michigan native Terry P. Richardson, a Vietnam veteran credited with saving the lives of 85 soldiers during a battle in 1968 despite being seriously wounded.
The Medal of Honor is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. military.
Richardson was a platoon leader who spared the lives of U.S. troops when he called in tactical air strikes against the North Vietnamese army that was “unleashing withering fire … (that) just didn’t stop” against the Americans behind enemy lines, Trump said Monday.
Richardson “acting without regard of his own life,” charged up the hill alone to radio for help from the top where he could secure a signal and from where he continued to direct tactical air strikes for eight hours, even after he was shot in the leg and was “in bad shape,” Trump said.
Richardson was later found by his team with both eardrums ruptured and a “mangled” right leg and foot, “still barely living but living nonetheless,” Trump said.
“That’s a great story. Terry, today you entered the ranks of the bravest warriors ever to stride the face of the earth,” Trump said. “Please stand up.”
Richardson stood to applause and a standing ovation in the room at the White House. Trump also asked two of the survivors of the battle whom Richardson is credited with saving to also stand Monday.
“How much have you paid him over the years? Have you said, ‘Take everything we have; we wouldn’t be here, right?'” Trump joked to the two men.
Trump also suggested to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that the military should recruit Richardson to serve again.
“That’s a great, brave man. I met him back there. He’s central casting. Look at him. He looks great,” Trump said of Richardson, who wore a brown Army uniform. “You feel like fighting? We could ― I think we could take him today. What do you think, Pete? Make a little, a little deal with him, as you are a brave man.”
Richardson, now retired, was born in Cass City and previously served as the Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center post commander and with the 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment, according to the Michigan National Guard.
Trump at the White House on Monday also awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously to two others: Master Sgt. Roderick Edmonds, who led a group of U.S. prisoners of war during World War II to resist Nazi demands, and to Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis, who came under attack at a forward operating base in Afghanistan and protected a Polish coalition forces officer during their defense of the perimeter, according to a pool report.
The U.S. Army has credited Richardson with “acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty” for his role in a battle on Sept. 14, 1968, while serving as a platoon leader in the vicinity of Loc Ninh in Vietnam near the Cambodian border, releasing a narrative of his actions that day.
Richardson was on a reconnaissance mission when his platoon began taking “intense” automatic weapon and small arms fire from a well-entrenched battalion of the North Vietnamese Army. The Army says that Richardson “braved heavy machine gun fire on three occasions” to rescue three severely wounded soldiers who had been pinned down between three enemy machine gun bunkers.
He returned to his unit to realize that his entire company was surrounded and under enemy fire, so Richardson advanced to the top of of a hill ― his company’s objective for the day ― to secure a better sight line and vantage point for directing tactical air strikes.
Once on the hill, he realized it was an enemy regiment’s base camp, the Army said. While amidst the enemy’s position, Richardson “skillfully” directed the air strikes before being wounded by an enemy sniper. He still continued to direct air strikes within close proximity of his position and that of his unit for seven more hours.
Richardson was found alive after the enemy had fled, the Army said, and he declined medical evacuation to stay with his soldiers. The Army says his actions spared the lives of 85 soldiers that day.
In the crowd on Monday at the White House was former U.S. Army medic James C. McCloughan of Grand Haven, another Vietnam veteran to whom Trump awarded the Medal of Honor in 2017.
mburke@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Trump gives Michigan native medal of honor for Vietnam War heroism
Reporting by Melissa Nann Burke, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
