nastyleg
10-20-2009, 01:59 PM
Vietnam Veterans Honored at White House Nearly 40 Years Later
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
By Joshua Rhett Miller
For Army Capt. John Poindexter, being awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for heroism Tuesday marked an "opportunity to close a chapter" in his life.
"The general feeling is a pretty intense level of excitement," Poindexter told Foxnews.com just before he and 85 other Vietnam veterans were honored at a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden.
"It will mean to me that I've filled an important duty to the men who I literally owe my life to, men who supported me in a desperate battle 40 years ago in the jungles along the Cambodian border."
Poindexter, 65, was one of 86 veterans of Troop A, 1st Squadron of the 11th Armored Combat Regiment who were honored for showing "extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry," according to a statement from the White House last week.
The group volunteered to rescue an American infantry company surrounded by enemy forces on the Cambodian border on March 26, 1970.
"The determined enemy had resisted hours of aerial and artillery bombardment and was expected to destroy or capture the 100 American infantryman within hours," the statement read.
The Presidential Unit Citation, the highest honor given to a military unit, has been issued since World War II and is awarded to U.S. Armed Forces units that display extraordinary heroism in combat against an armed enemy force.
"The unit must display such gallantry, determination, and esprit de corps in accomplishing its mission under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions so as to set it apart from and above other units participating in the same campaign," the White House statement said.
Poindexter was 25 at the time of the mission, and he was wounded in the hand, neck and face by shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade. He said he still remembers the sensation of being wounded in battle, along with the "looks on the faces" of the soldiers he led into the fight.
Now a businessman in Texas, he said the honor, nearly four decades after the battle, came not a minute too soon.
"I've been at it for seven years," said Poindexter, referring to his quest to file for the citation. "It's a personal fulfillment."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,568682,00.html
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
By Joshua Rhett Miller
For Army Capt. John Poindexter, being awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for heroism Tuesday marked an "opportunity to close a chapter" in his life.
"The general feeling is a pretty intense level of excitement," Poindexter told Foxnews.com just before he and 85 other Vietnam veterans were honored at a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden.
"It will mean to me that I've filled an important duty to the men who I literally owe my life to, men who supported me in a desperate battle 40 years ago in the jungles along the Cambodian border."
Poindexter, 65, was one of 86 veterans of Troop A, 1st Squadron of the 11th Armored Combat Regiment who were honored for showing "extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry," according to a statement from the White House last week.
The group volunteered to rescue an American infantry company surrounded by enemy forces on the Cambodian border on March 26, 1970.
"The determined enemy had resisted hours of aerial and artillery bombardment and was expected to destroy or capture the 100 American infantryman within hours," the statement read.
The Presidential Unit Citation, the highest honor given to a military unit, has been issued since World War II and is awarded to U.S. Armed Forces units that display extraordinary heroism in combat against an armed enemy force.
"The unit must display such gallantry, determination, and esprit de corps in accomplishing its mission under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions so as to set it apart from and above other units participating in the same campaign," the White House statement said.
Poindexter was 25 at the time of the mission, and he was wounded in the hand, neck and face by shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade. He said he still remembers the sensation of being wounded in battle, along with the "looks on the faces" of the soldiers he led into the fight.
Now a businessman in Texas, he said the honor, nearly four decades after the battle, came not a minute too soon.
"I've been at it for seven years," said Poindexter, referring to his quest to file for the citation. "It's a personal fulfillment."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,568682,00.html