![]() That moment lasted nearly 19 hours and stretched over two days in mid-June 1965.ĭavis, then a captain and commander with the 5th Special Forces Group, engaged in nearly continuous combat during a pre-dawn raid on a North Vietnamese army camp in the village of Bong Son in Binh Dinh province. “You’re just trying to get through that moment.” ![]() “When you’re fighting, you’re not thinking about this moment,” Davis said. “Right now I’m overwhelmed,” he told The Associated Press in an interview the day before he attends a White House ceremony where President Joe Biden will hang the blue ribbon holding the Medal of Honor around Davis’ neck. ![]() He said he doesn’t know why it has taken decades for his heroism to be recognized. Some of Davis’ supporters believe racism was to blame, but Davis doesn’t dwell on it. ![]() It wasn’t until 2016 - half a century after Davis risked his life to save some of his men by fighting off the North Vietnamese - that a volunteer group of advocates painstakingly recreated and resubmitted the paperwork. The overdue recognition for the 83-year-old Virginia resident comes after his recommendation for the medal was lost, resubmitted - and then lost again. Paris Davis, one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat, will receive the prestigious Medal of Honor on Friday. WASHINGTON > Nearly 60 years after he was first recommended for the nation’s highest award for bravery during the Vietnam War, retired Col.
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