Medal of Honor Recipient: Sammy Lee Davis

Sammy was born in 1946, in Dayton, Ohio and he enlisted in the U.S. Army in September 1966. Shortly after graduating bootcamp at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, he volunteered to go to Vietnam and was deployed to Saigon, Vietnam. Upon arriving in Vietnam, he was greeted by enemy mortars as soon as his plane touched ground.

After being ordered to numerous duties from stirring crap in fifty-gallon oil drums, to being a helicopter gunner, to helping deliver a baby elephant, Sammy finally received his orders to Fire Support Base Cudgel in 1967. FSB Cudgel was smack dab in the middle of the rice paddies and canopied jungle of the Mekong Delta; heavily infested with mosquitoes, suffocating humidity, and a relentless enemy.

FSB Cudgel is where Sammy would earn his Medal of Honor during a horrific night when a reinforced North Vietnamese Army battalion raid on his base changed his entire life—with only a fraction of U.S. soldiers in his battery, including himself to defend it. Outnumbered, 1,500 NVA and Vietcong soldiers to 42 U.S. soldiers, Sammy and the men he fought with were thrust into a hellish nightmare that has embedded itself not only in history, but in the hearts and minds of those who were there.

Sammy would go on to continue his service after Vietnam and receiving the Medal of Honor. He toured the nation speaking while enduring more hate and violence from Vietnam War protestors back home. However, Sammy never retaliated, while trying to understand the animosity, he continued steadfast in his mission to shed light on the darkness of the Vietnam War, help veterans, and try to help war protestors understand that it’s never OK to protest the warrior, but you can protest the war because we’re a nation of Free Speech.

Sammy’s selfless character, patriotism, and love for his brothers and sisters was developed while growing up; his mother used to remind him to never leave his little brother behind. He is a true example of what it means to never quit no matter the adversity that comes, while exemplifying, that love is what matters most in this world.

If we can learn to love one another then the world just might be a better place for all. Sammy’s coined saying, in which his mother used to say to him is, “You don’t lose until you quit trying.” A saying that he enjoys telling others along with sharing his love for harmonica, story, and people. His citation can be read at the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s website for further details.

Photo of Sammy and Dixie Davis | Photo Credit: Kelly Wilkinson Indianapolis Star