Vietnam-era Army medic receives Medal of Honor from Trump
President Trump presented the Medal of Honor on Monday to an Army medic who treated more than 60 wounded soldiers behind enemy lines — in a place they weren’t supposed to be — during the Vietnam War.
Capt. Gary Michael Rose spent four days in the jungles of Laos tending to the wounded, even after he himself was wounded by shrapnel that pierced through his foot. It was a sensitive mission, code-named “Operation Tailwind,” shrouded in secrecy until a now-discredited CNN report accused Rose’s unit of wrongdoing in 1998. A Pentagon investigation exonerated them, and Monday’s Medal of Honor provides further vindication of Rose’s valor in the 1970 mission.
“For many years the story of Mike’s heroism had gone untold,” Trump said Monday alongside Rose, who goes by Mike. “But today we gather to tell the world of his valor and proudly present him with our nation’s highest military honor.”
Now 69 and retired in Alabama, Rose says he considers the honor “a collective medal.”
“I want to accept this in honor of all the men and women who fought in that era,” he told reporters.
In 1967, Rose enlisted in the Army rather than face the possibility of being drafted. He received training as a Special Forces medic and was dispatched to Southeast Asia in 1969.
In 1970, his company was to join forces with local fighters to attack the North Vietnamese Army in neighboring Laos.
On just his second combat mission, Rose accompanied 136 American soldiers and South Vietnamese fighters known as Montagnards into Laos. He was the only medic.
Ferried by Marine Corps helicopters more than 40 miles behind enemy lines, they were peppered by gunfire as they found themselves landing near a major North Vietnamese supply hub.
Rose sprang into action, firing his weapon as he raced to an injured soldier trapped by heavy gunfire. And then he did it again. And again.
“Sgt. Rose, bravely and courageously, with no regard for his own safety, moved through the enemy fire to render lifesaving medical treatment to the mounting wounded, personally engaging the enemy to get the wounded men,” the Army said in its account.
On the second day, Rose himself was wounded as he dragged an injured soldier to safety.
Later, Rose would take his boot off and slip his entire index finger through the wound in his foot. “I remember putting my sock back on. I remember thinking, I’ll worry about that later,” he told USA TODAY.
Rose continued to tend to the wounded soldiers with whatever dwindling supplies he had. On the fourth day, helicopters arrived under heavy fire to evacuate the company. Rose got on the last helicopter, which took on heavy fire and crashed miles away. He pulled the men from the burning wreckage and tended to their wounds until another helicopter arrived.