On this day in 1970, a hero engages in an action that would earn him the Medal of Honor.

Perhaps some would consider Pfc. David Winder an unlikely hero? As the son of a pastor, he was a pacifist and one of only a handful of men to receive the Medal despite personal reservations about war.

Indeed, Winder nearly fled to Canada to avoid the draft. In the end, though, “he figured that wasn’t the right thing to do,” as his little brother later described.

Instead, Winder would serve his country in his own way. By November 1969, he was in Vietnam, serving as a senior medical aidman.

“He was about helping people,” his brother concluded. “He didn’t even carry a gun in Vietnam.”

Pfc. Winder’s heroism came after he’d been in Vietnam for several months. On May 13, 1970, his unit became pinned down by intense fire. The enemy was well-entrenched and raking our soldiers with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenade fire.

Several of our men went down, but Winder didn’t hesitate.

Remember: He was unarmed. Nevertheless, he began crawling and working his way across 100 meters of open terrain, even as bullets fell all around him. One of the bullets soon hit the young medic, but Winder still managed to find one of our wounded soldiers to help.

He administered medical aid and moved on, despite his own wounds. He needed to help as many men as he could.

Winder nearly made it to a second casualty, but when he was within 10 meters of this second soldier, he was hit again. This wound was mortal.

“I don’t think you’d expect anybody to do what he did—or very few people, anyhow, to be so selfless,” Winder’s little brother later said. On the other hand, maybe Winder’s family wasn’t so surprised, either? “If you knew him it really wasn’t out of character for him to do that,” the younger Winder said. “He was just a great brother.”

Yet another quiet hero, serving our country in any way that he could. Such an AMERICAN story, isn’t it?

Comments

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war.

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war. In April 1945, 2nd Lt. Peter During was a South African fighter pilot (N.7 Squadron) running missions over Italy when his Spitfire was shot down by German AA fire. He managed to crash land his plane behind enemy lines where he was immediately captured. Whilst been escorted to a German Lufwaffe Prisoner of War (POW) camp (he was a pilot and thus his interrogation and imprisonment was the responsibility of the German airforce), he opened a conversation with his captors. He was quickly able to establish that they could already see the writing on the wall, that the war was at an end and Germany would lose it. ...

He said the family were "acutely aware" there were "extremists of all sides who are keen to hijack this incident for their own ends".

The family of a man who was kicked in the head by police at Manchester Airport has appealed for "calm in all the communities", an MP has said. Paul Waugh, Rochdale MP, said the "traumatised" family wanted to make it clear they had "no political agenda whatsoever" and did not condone political violence. Anger over the video led to protests outside Rochdale police station on Wednesday and Thursday nights, with another protest also held in Manchester city centre on Thursday. Mr Waugh said the family would not be attending any protests or giving any media interviews as they wanted their privacy protected. "The strong message they wanted to give is that they have no political agenda whatsoever," he told BBC Breakfast. "They wanted me to issue an appeal for calm among all sorts of different communities in Rochdale. "We've had a history of unfortunate division in our town and we do not want to go back to those days." He said the famil...

Battle of Hat Dich Begins.

Battle of Hat Dich Begins On the 3rd of December 1968, Australians from the 1st Australian Task Force participated in the Battle of Hat Dich as part of Operation GOODWOOD. This operation involved the clearing of Hat Dich and its surrounding areas in a three month operation which would involve Australian, New Zealand, American and South Vietnamese forces. The battle was marked by sustained Australian patrols throughout the Hat Dich area and ambushes on tracks used by the enemy. American, South Vietnamese and Thai forces also operated in direct support of the ANZACS as part of the division-sized action. Under the codename Operation GOODWOOD, the battle of Hat Dich lasted 78 days, and saw 21 Australians, one New Zealander and 31 South Vietnamese killed. The Royal Australian Regiment, the 3rd Cavalry Regiment and 1st Armoured Regiment were subsequently awarded the battle honour award “Hat Dich”, one of only five presented to Australian units during the war. don't forget to...

WORLD OF ALL

Search This Blog