Recognizing bravery above and beyond the call of duty

Veterans all over the world can instantly appreciate extraordinary heroism in action, especially when it comes to Medal of Honor (MOH) recipients who have risked their own lives to save a comrade.

Retired Colonel Paris Davis is one such MOH recipient—for distinguishing himself by an act of valor during combat. In fact, VA recently recognized Davis for his selflessness and unwavering devotion to his fellow combatants.

Davis’s bravery occurred during the Vietnam War, where as a captain, he and his men trained a force of local volunteers in the Bình Dinh province.

On June 18, 1965, while commanding a team of inexperienced South Vietnamese troops, along with special forces soldiers, Davis’s group encountered a superior enemy force.

Over the course of two days, he selflessly led a charge to neutralize enemy emplacements, called for precision artillery fire, engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, and prevented the capture of three American soldiers while saving their lives with a medical extraction.

“This is not heroic. This is military. If you’re in charge, you have to take charge,” he said, of that day in Bình Dinh.

Although he sustained multiple gunshot and grenade fragment wounds during the 19-hour battle, Davis refused to leave the battlefield until his men were safely removed.

When talking about the men he saved that day, Davis recalls speaking to a soldier who was shot in the temple by a sniper: “I remember him saying, ‘Am I going to die?’ and “I remember saying ‘Not before me.’”

For his heroic acts, Davis also received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star Medal with “V” device, a Purple Heart with one Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Air Medal with “V” device.

He was also awarded the Soldier’s Medal for heroism, for saving the life of a driver who was stuck in an over-turned and burning fuel truck. Davis pulled the soldier from the truck just before it exploded. He is one of only four service members in U.S. military history to receive both the Soldier’s Medal and the Medal of Honor.

Davis was born in 1939, in Cleveland, OH. As a young man, he became interested in the military and sports, and he pursued both at Southern University, in Baton Rouge, LA, where he studied political science on an ROTC scholarship.

He was commissioned as an Army Reserve armor officer in 1959, graduated from Airborne and Ranger schools in 1960, and was selected for the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, serving first in Korea and then Vietnam.

Davis first deployed to Vietnam in 1962 and again in 1965, where he was promoted to captain as a detachment commander with the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, making him one of the first African American Special Forces officers as the civil rights movement gained momentum at home.

He attended Command and General Staff College in 1971 and the Naval War College in 1980. Davis served with the Army staff, the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Headquarters, U.S. Army European Command.

Davis assumed command of the 10th Special Forces Group, Fort Devens, Massachusetts, and was promoted to colonel in 1981. He retired from the Army on July 30, 1985. In 2019, he was inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame.

Following his military career, Davis published the Metro Herald newspaper for 30 years in Alexandria, VA, where he now lives.

According to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, there have been 3,511 individuals who have received the Medal of Honor since the decoration’s inception in 1861. It is the United States’ highest military decoration for valor in action against enemy forces.