Dwight Hal Johnson: Medal of Honor Recipient

U.S. Army Medal of Honor

Dwight Hal Johnson was a distinguished soldier of the United States Army who fought valiantly during the Vietnam War. His bravery and caring for his fellow soldiers while in Vietnam earned him the Medal of Honor. Like many other recipients of the Medal of Honor, Dwight's story does not have a happy ending.

Dwight Johnson was born in Detroit, Michigan on May 7, 1947. He was drafted during the Vietnam War and went on to earn the rank of Specialist 5th Class. He was a tank driver. In this capacity, he found himself in a conflict with a North Vietnamese force on January 15, 1968.  He was 20 years old.

That day in the Kontum Province in Vietnam, Dwight Johnson was "a member of a reaction force moving to aid other elements of his platoon, which was in heavy contact with a battalion size North Vietnamese force." according to the official report. As soon as Dwight arrived, one of the tracks on his tank broke. He was a sitting duck, or at least his tank was; Dwight was not the sort of man to sit there. He took the only mobile weapon within his reach–a .45 caliber handgun–and exited the tank. He immediately went directly for the enemy. He used up his ammo dispatching several members of the opposing force, miraculously remaining unharmed.

When Dwight Johnson ran out of ammo for his .45, he went back to his tank, which was naturally the focus of much enemy fire. Against the odds, he managed to get in, get a sub-machine gun and get out without being killed. He went straight back into the midst of the enemy and killed a few more. He continued his attack until he ran out of ammunition once again. At this time, Dwight Johnson went to a different tank and saved a man's life.

Dwight Johnson's platoon sergeant had an injured man in his tank. Dwight, now unarmed, went to the tank and pulled his fellow soldier out. He then carried him to a personnel carrier. Johnson then returned to his platoon sergeant and helped him fire the tank's main gun until it jammed. Never one to stop when the odds were against him, Johnson returned to his tank one last time. There, he operated the tank's .50 caliber machine gun until the conflict was over. He was exposed the entire time.

This conflict lasted roughly half an hour. In that time, Johnson killed anywhere between 5 and 20 enemy soldiers. Unfortunately, this seems to have broken the man. After going home and receiving the highest award any member of the military can receive, he became unhappy. Doctors said that he suffered from nightmares, depression and survivor's guilt. Modern medicine tells us that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Sources say that when Dwight Johnson came home, he buried himself in debt, despite getting a job as a recruiter. He was also severely depressed, despite having a wife and a baby boy. Accounts of what happened as a result of this are conflicted.

Some say that Dwight walked in on an armed robbery at a liquor store and was shot. Many more sources say that Dwight was the man doing the robbing, but that he did not fire a single shot. Either way, he was shot to death by a liquor store clerk on April 30, 1971 in Detroit, Michigan. He was only 23-years-old. Dwight's mother reportedly felt like her son wanted to die, but needed somebody else to do the killing.

Dwight Hal Johnson was a hero, regardless of the manner of his death. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, where he belongs.

Sources

Johnson, Dwight, retrieved 8/31/10, cmohs.org/recipient-detail/3317/johnson-dwight-h.php

Dwight Hal Johnson, retrieved 8/31/10, findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&Grid=5758187

Ross McGinnis: Medal of Honor Recipient

Spc. Ross McGinnis

Specialist Ross McGinnis was just an average young man when he decided to sign up for the United States Army’s delayed entry program before he even graduated from high school. He was deployed to Iraq in August of 2006. Three months later, he committed an act that was anything but average. He sacrificed his own life to save his fellow soldiers. He was only nineteen years old. This deed was the ultimate act of kindness, bravery and selflessness and for this he was awarded the highest honor that can be given to a member of the United States Armed Forces, the Medal of Honor.

Ross McGinnis was born on June 14, 1987 in Meadville, Pennsylvania to Tom and Romayne McGinnis. The day of his birth was the 206^th birthday of the United States Army. When Ross was three years old, his family moved to Knox, Pennsylvania, where he was raised with his two sisters, Becky and Katie. Ross joined the army’s delayed entry program when he was seventeen and went into basic training right out of high school. He was deployed with his unit a little over a year later.

On December 4, 2006, PFC Ross McGinnis was manning the M2 .50 caliber machine gun on a Humvee while patrolling in Adhamiyah, Northeast Baghdad, Iraq when an insurgent threw a grenade at the Humvee from a nearby rooftop. PFC McGinnis saw the grenade and tried to deflect it, but was unsuccessful; it landed inside the vehicle. He shouted “grenade” to warn the other soldiers in the Humvee of the danger, but Ross was the only man who was in a position to get out of the Humvee quickly. Instead, he dropped down from his position and trapped the grenade between his body and the radio mount in the Humvee.

When the grenade went off, it tore apart the young man’s side and back and injured the four other men that were in the vehicle. All four of the other soldiers survived, but PFC Ross McGinnis was killed instantly. The convoy that they were traveling with managed to fight off the insurgents in the area and they all made it back to the FOB. Ross McGinnis was promoted to Specialist later that day; his CO had planned to promote him before he had died. He was buried at the Arlington National Cemetery on March 23, 2006.

On June 2, 2008, Spc. Ross McGinnis was awarded the Medal of Honor “For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an M2 .50 caliber Machine Gunner, 1^st Platoon, C Company, 1^st Battalion, 26^th Infantry Regiment, in connection with combat operations against an armed enemy in Adhamiyah, Northeast, Baghdad, Iraq, on 4 December 2006.”  His parents received the medal for him during a ceremony at the White House.

Sources

The Story of Spc. Ross A. McGinnis, retrieved 8/30/09, army.mil/medalofhonor/mcginnis/profile/index.html

Tan, Michelle, Army PFC. Ross A. McGinnis, retrieved 8/30/09, militarycity.com/valor/2411963.html

Paul Smith: Medal of Honor Recipient

Sergeant First Class Paul Smith of the United States Army was a husband, father and dedicated soldier. He served his country in the Persian Gulf War, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. 1st Class Paul Smith was killed in Baghdad, Iraq when he decided to man a .50 caliber rifle from the exposed turret of an armored personnel carrier and fire on the enemy to allow his men time to regroup and evacuate the wounded. His actions saved many soldiers that day, and was the deciding factor in their victory. As a veteran and an experienced soldier, he knew exactly what the consequences of his actions would be, but he did not hesitate.

Paul Smith was born on September 24, 1969 in El Paso, Texas. His parents, Donald and Janice Smith moved the family to Tampa Bay, Florida when Paul was nine years old. He had three siblings--Lisa, Cristina and Anthony. Long before he was a combat engineer, Paul Smith was interested in building things. He attended Tampa Bay Vocational Technical High School and graduated in 1988. He enlisted in the Army in October of 1989 and had a long and honorable career. By the time he and his men deployed to Iraq in 2003, Paul Smith was Sergeant First Class Paul Smith.

On April 4, 2003, Sgt. 1st Class Paul Smith and his men were charged with building a temporary P.O.W. holding area near the Baghdad International Airport. They soon came under attack by an enemy force of an estimated 100 men. Sgt. 1st Class Smith effectively delivered orders to his men while fighting off the enemy with his rifle, grenades and an AT4. During the attack, one of the U.S. Forces armored personnel carriers was damaged by enemy fire and the three men in it were wounded.

Seeing that these men needed to be evacuated and that the armored personnel carrier’s .50 caliber rifle was the largest weapon between his men and the enemy, Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith did what no commanding officer would have ever rightly ordered him to do. He climbed into the exposed turret hatch of the vehicle and manned the weapon with the entire upper half of his body exposed to the enemy. He managed to shoot and kill between 20 and 50 enemy soldiers before being shot and killed himself. Because of his gallantry, his men went on to defeat the enemy that day.

On April 4, 2005, exactly two years after his death in Baghdad, Sgt. First Class Paul Smith was awarded the Medal of Honor “For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty in action with an armed enemy near Baghdad International Airport.” His eleven-year-old son, David was at the White House to receive his father’s medal.

Sergeant First Class Paul Smith is survived by his wife Birgit, his son, David and his daughter, Jessica. He was cremated and his ashes were spread out in Tampa, save a small amount that his wife keeps in a locket.

Sources

Sergeant First Class Paul Ray Smith, retrieved 8/31/09, army.mil/medalofhonor/smith/profile/index.html

Medal of Honor Recipients, Iraq, retrieved 8/31/09, history.army.mil/html/moh/iraq.html

Michael A. Monsoor: Medal of Honor Recipient

Petty Officer Second Class (SEAL) Michael Monsoor (Center)

Michael A. Monsoor was a Petty Officer Second Class (SEAL) of the United States Navy. He was the quintessential warrior with a zest for pushing himself physically and mentally to meet and defeat any challenge placed before him. By all accounts, he was exceptional even for the elite SEALs. He proved that when he laid down his life to save the lives of his fellow SEALs and some Iraq Army soldiers in Ar Ramadi, Iraq on September 29, 2006. Petty Officer Second Class (SEAL) Michael Monsoor was a devout Catholic and it is notable that the day he died in an ultimate act of bravery was also Saint Michael’s Day.

Michael Monsoor was born in Long Beach, California on April 5, 1981 to George and Sally Monsoor. He was raised in Garden Grove, California with his three siblings, James, Sara and Joseph. He was an avid sportsman throughout his school years, despite having a bad case of asthma. He fought through it and strove to better himself physically, and he was successful. He graduated from Garden Grove High School in 1999 and enlisted in the Navy in 2001.

Monsoor graduated from SEAL training in March of 2005 and was deployed to Ar Ramadi, Iraq in April of 2006. He quickly distinguished himself as an astoundingly brave man. He earned himself a silver star when he pulled a wounded man to safety while under heavy enemy fire; he returned fire while he was dragging the man. He also earned a bronze star for “Heroic Achievement from 12 April to 29 September 2006.” He received both medals posthumously.

On September 29, 2006, Petty Officer Second Class (SEAL) Monsoor was on sniper overwatch duty on a rooftop in Ar Ramadi, Iraq with three fellow SEALs and eight Iraqi Army soldiers. The men were keeping watch on the rooftop when a grenade hit Michael in the chest and fell to the ground. He shouted “grenade” to warn his comrades, but Monsoor was the only one of them that was close enough to the exit to escape the blast.

Without removing his eyes from the grenade, Petty Officer Second Class (SEAL) Monsoor dropped to the ground and covered the grenade with his body.  His actions saved the lives of eleven men. Two of the three SEALs he was with were injured, but none severely. One escaped injury altogether. Michael Monsoor died roughly thirty minutes later from the wounds he sustained. He was 25 years old. He is buried in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, California.

On April 8, 2008, Petty Officer Second Class (SEAL) Michael Monsoor was awarded the Medal of Honor “For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as automatic weapons gunner for Naval Special Warfare Task Group Arabian Peninsula, in Support of Operation Iraqi Freedom on 29 September 2006.” His parents received the medal for him from President George W. Bush at a ceremony in the White House.

Sources

Medal of Honor Recipients; Iraq, retrieved 8/30/09, history.army.mil/html/moh/iraq.html

Petty Officer Second Class (Seal); Michael Anthony Monsoor, retrieved 8/30/09, navy.mil/moh/Monsoor/Bio.html