AFRICAN AMERICANS

IN THE
VIETNAM WAR
(18)

(15) (16)
The performance of the Negro serviceman has
been particularly inspirational to me. They
have served with distinction. The Negro
serviceman, like all servicemen, has been a
credit to his country. He has been courageous
on the battlefield, proficient, and a possessor
of technical skills. And like his white buddy, he
understands what it is all about."

— General William C. Westmoreland, 1967

The Congressional Medal of Honor
is given to the nation’s bravest
Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines,
and Coast Guardsmen since 1861. (1)

During the Vietnam War, 245 Medals

of Honor were given out. 154 of
those medals were given posthumous,
or after someone has died. Of the
245 total Medal of Honors given out
for service in Vietnam, only 20 were
awarded to African-American
military men. (2) Only five of these
Medals of Honor were awarded to
African-Americans still living.
 PFC MILTON OLIVE
U.S. ARMY

Company B, 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry

173rd Airborne Brigade

Time and Place: Phu Cong, Republic of Vietnam

(3)
October 22, 1965
Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond
the call of duty

PFC Olive was moving through the jungles with his platoon searching out the Viet Cong. They
were under heavy enemy fire but responded by assaulting the Viet Cong positions which caused
the Viet Cong to flee. As the platoon continued to pursue the Viet Cong, PFC Olive and four
other soldiers were attacked by a grenade. PFC Olive saw the grenade first and saved the life of
his soldiers by grabbing the grenade and falling on it to absorb the blast. PFC Olive with
complete disregard for his own life, saved the lives of his fellow soldiers. (4) For his selfless
actions, PFC Olive was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was only 19 years old.
 SSG CLIFFORD SIMS
U.S. ARMY
Company D, 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 501st Infantry,
101st Airborne Division
(5)
Time and Place: Hue, Republic of Vietnam on
February 21, 1968

Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above
and beyond the call of duty.
SSG
f Sims was a squad leader for Company D. Company D was attacking a heavily fortified
enemy position when they came across heavy fire. SSG Sims led his squad in an intense
enemy attack. His leadership gave the platoon the advantage and SSG Sims was then ordered
to move to provide cover fire for the company command group. Within 30 meters, SSG Sims
caught eye of a brick structure which held ammunition. The structure was on fire. He
immediately ordered his platoon to evacuate the area. Two men were injured in the explosion.
Continuing on their path, SSG Sims and his squad were approaching a bunker and heard the
sound of a booby trap being set off. SSG Sims warned his squad of the danger and then threw
himself on the trap, absorbing the whole explosion. He saved the lives of his soldiers. (4)
 (5)
PFC CLARENCE SASSER
U.S. ARMY

Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry,

9th Infantry Division

Time and Place: Ding Tuong, Republic of Vietnam

on
January 10, 1968
Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and
beyond the call of duty.
PFC Sasser was serving as a Medical Aidman with Company A, 3rd Battalion on a reconnaissance
operation. His company was performing an air assault when they came under small arms,
recoilless rifle, machinegun, and rocket fire from the enemy. During the first few minutes of this
attack, there were 30 casualties. PFC Sasser ran through an open rice paddy subjecting himself
to heavy enemy fire to get to the wounded soldiers. He helped one soldier to safety and then was
wounded in the left shoulder by rocket fragments. He denied medical help and continued through
the enemy fire to aid the wounded. PFC Sasser received two more wounds that made him unable
to walk, yet he dragged himself through the mud 100 meters to help another wounded soldier. He
then encouraged another group of soldiers to crawl 200 meters to safety where he treated their
wounds for five hours. (4)
 (6)
PFC JAMES ANDERSON
U.S. MARINE CORPS

2nd Platoon, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines

3rd Marines Division

Time and Place: Republic of Vietnam on February 28, 1967

Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond
the call of duty.

Company F was advancing in dense jungle northwest of Cam Lo. PFC Anderson’s platoon was
the lead platoon and came under intense small arms fire only 200 meters along the way. The
platoon reacted quickly and returned fire as best they could. Several men were wounded during
the assault. A grenade landed in the middle of the Marines and next to PFC Anderson’s head.
He grabbed the grenade, pulled it into his chest, and it exploded. Some of the Marines did
receive shrapnel from the grenade blast but PFC Anderson’s body received most of the
explosion. PFC Anderson’s selfless actions saved his fellow Marines from serious injury or
death. (7) He was only 21 years old.
(8)
PFC OSCAR AUSTIN
U.S. MARINE CORPS

Company E, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marines Division

Time and Place: West of Da Nang, Republic of Vietnam on

February 23, 1969
Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the
call of duty while serving as an assistant machine gunner with Company E, in
connection with operations against enemy forces.

In the morning hours, PFC Austin’s post was hit by a ground attack of North Vietnamese Army
soldiers who were supported by heavy small arms fire, satchel charges, and hand grenades. One
of his fellow Marines was unconscious in an area with heavy fire. PFC Austin left his secure
foxhole to assist the fallen Marine to safer ground. He ran through heavy enemy fire and when
he reached his comrade, he saw a grenade close by. He put himself between the fallen Marine
and the grenade and got seriously injured. He ignored his injuries and reached the Marine. He
turned around and saw a North Vietnamese soldier aiming a gun at his comrade. PFC Austin,
in a selfless act, put himself between the unconscious Marine and the enemy. He was killed in
the process at age 21. (7)
These are just some of the many brave African-American soldiers who
selflessly gave their lives during the Vietnam War and were rightfully
recognized for their service to the United States of America with the
high honor of the Congressional Medal of Honor for their gallantry.

(9)

May we continue today to recognize the selfless acts of bravery and

courage by these young men in the face of danger. They fought to
defend our rights to live freely in the United States.
 AFRICAN AMERICAN
VIETNAM WAR CONGRESSIONAL
MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENTS
Lawrence Joel Riley L. Pitts
James Anderson, Jr.

Dwight H. Johnson Charles Calvin Rogers

Webster Anderson

Ralph H. Johnson Ruppert L. Sargeant

Eugene Ashley, Jr.

Garfield M. Langhorn Clarence Eugene Sasser

Oscar P. Austin

Matthew Leonard Clifford Chester Sims

William Maud Bryant

Donald Russell Long John E. Warren, Jr.

Rodney Maxwell Davis

Robert H. Jenkins, Jr. Milton L. Olive, III

 REACTIONS TO THE
VIETNAM WAR
March 2, 1965: President Lyndon Johnson launches Operation Rolling Thunder, a
large aerial assault on North Vietnam.

Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a speech at Howard University and

in it, called for a negotiated settlement of the conflict in Southeast
Asia. (10)

(11) (12)
 KING’S DILEMMA
- Martin Luther King, Jr. was morally opposed to the Vietnam War.

- Whenever he spoke out against the war, he was criticized from both sides of the
Debate.

- Members of SNCC thought he was too quiet on the issue.

- Other people said he should not be too vocal against the war because that would put
in jeopardy the civil rights movement on the home front.

- Some who opposed the war in the U.S. were called communists and traitors to the
United States. (10)
 CORETTA SCOTT KING
REMEMBERS
“But at that time he (MLK) conferred with his board, because he
(13) said that it would affect very directly SCLC and the work that he
was doing, in terms of the support that he was getting.”
-Coretta Scott King (10)

“People who were with me on civil rights will not be with me on this issue, and we
have to count those costs. And all I want you to do is to allow me to make the
statement as an individual, not on behalf of the organization.”
-Martin Luther King, Jr. (10)

“Now of course, he (King) had the right to do that on his own, but there was no way
the press would make that distinction or the people would make that distinction.”
-Coretta Scott King (10)
 SUPPORTERS OF KING’S
DISAPPROVAL OF THE
VIETNAM WAR
Vincent Harding, civil rights worker from Harlem

“I had been deeply involved in studying what was going on

in Vietnam for my own edification and came to the
conclusion that what was going on was very wrong as far
as our country’s policy was concerned, and that freedom
organizations like SCLC and leaders like King needed to
say something very clearly about that and needed to put
themselves out in the open in solidarity with the
suffering of the people of Vietnam. “ (10)

(14)
 RED- BAITING
“One of the major traditional statements by black people on anything that comes on
the level of criticizing the government, about the danger of being considered a
Communist, is ‘It’s bad enough being black without being red, too.”
-Vincent Harding (10)

A Gallup Poll taken at the end of 1965 said that 48 % of Americans believed their
was “a lot” of communist involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. (10)
 THE ISSUE OF NONVIOLENCE
Stokely Carmichael, SNCC
Carmichael was talking to King about nonviolence. It was his job to put pressure on
King to take a stand against Vietnam. Here Carmichael is talking about a friend in
Vietnam. “He got shot. In Vietnam. You told him to be nonviolent in Mississippi. He
didn’t get shot there. He got shot in Vietnam. You should have told him to be
nonviolent in Vietnam.”

Carmichael reflects on King’s anti-Vietnam war sermon at Riverside Church:

“He wants number one, first to show that nonviolence has to be applied everywhere.
It cannot be just segregated to the struggle of our people inside the United States. He
wants to also show that it must be a vital force in the world politics and in world
struggle. He comes to break down the isolation of our struggle in the States and to
show the struggle of the peasant in the rice paddy.” (10)
 KING’S DECISION TO TAKE
A STAND
- Initially King was wary of speaking out against the war. SCLC urged him not to.
Some people said his (King’s) work was with the Civil Rights Movement and not
to spread himself too thin. In 1967 King went to Jamaica with Bernard S. Lee, an
SCLC staff member. There he saw a picture in Ramparts magazine of a mother
and child in Vietnam napalmed. He knew then he had to speak out.

-On March 27, King took part in his first antiwar march in Chicago.

- On April 4, King gave a sermon at Riverside Church about Vietnam.

(12)
 TEXT REFERENCES
(1) http://www.army.mil/cmh/Moh1.htm

(2) http://www.army.mil/cmh/mohstats.htm

4) http://www.army.mil/cmh/mohviet2.htm

7) http://www.army.mil/cmh/mohviet.htm

(10) Henry Hampton and Steve Fayer, Voices of Freedom: An oral history of the Civil Rights
Movement from the 1950s through the 1980s, pp. 335-348.
 IMAGE REFERENCES
3) http://www.medalofhonor.com/MiltonOlive.htm

5) http://www.goarmy.com/bhm/moh_vietnam.jsp

6) http://www.aavw.org/served/homepage_janderson.html

8) http://www.medalofhonor.com/OscarAustin.htm

9) http://www.goarmy.com/bhm/medal_of_honor.jsp

11) http://www.historyplace.com/specials/calendar/docs-pix/johnson.jpg

12) http://www.africawithin.com/mlking/mlk.jpg

13) http://www.congressionalgoldmedal.com/CorettaScottKing.jpg
 IMAGE REFERENCES CONT’D

14) http://www.goshen.edu/news/pressarchive/photos/Harding_Vincent.jpg

15) http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/k30000/k31453.jpg

16) http://www.aavw.org/