Bennie G. Adkins

Held Camp A Shau through three days of attack

Bennie G. Adkins received the Medal of Honor for a fierce defense of Camp A Shau in Vietnam from 9 to 12 March 1966. Across 38 hours of combat and two days evading the enemy, he repeatedly manned a mortar and recoilless rifle, carried wounded defenders through fire, and led the survivors through the jungle after their last evacuation helicopter had left.

Born in Waurika, Oklahoma, on 1 February 1934, Adkins was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1956. After airborne training, he volunteered for Special Forces and served with the 7th, 3rd, 6th and 5th Special Forces Groups. At Camp A Shau, an isolated outpost near the Laotian border, he was an intelligence sergeant with Detachment A-102, 5th Special Forces Group. The defenders included U.S. Special Forces soldiers and Vietnamese troops; the camp guarded routes used to move men and supplies into South Vietnam.

A large North Vietnamese and Viet Cong force opened its assault with mortars before attacking the camp in waves. Adkins kept firing from the mortar pit despite repeated direct hits and his own wounds. He left the position to carry wounded men to safety, help load casualties onto aircraft under fire, and recover supplies dropped beyond the perimeter. When the camp’s defenses collapsed, he shifted to a recoilless rifle, then helped hold a communications bunker and made a dangerous return to the abandoned mortar pit for ammunition. As the defenders withdrew, Adkins organized the remaining soldiers and Vietnamese troops into a patrol and led them away on foot. Their first rescue helicopter was destroyed by enemy fire; they finally escaped by helicopter on 12 March.

The Army’s citation credited Adkins with 18 wounds and estimated that he killed between 135 and 175 enemy combatants during the battle and escape. He had originally received the Distinguished Service Cross. After his former comrades pressed for a review, President Barack Obama presented him the Medal of Honor at the White House on 15 September 2014.

Adkins retired as a sergeant major in 1978. He earned three degrees from Troy State University, founded an accounting firm in Auburn, Alabama, led it for 22 years, and taught college courses. He and his wife, Mary, raised four children. Adkins died in Alabama on 17 April 2020, aged 86.

Medal of Honor citation: “For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty: Sergeant First Class Bennie G. Adkins distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an Intelligence Sergeant with Detachment A-102, 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces, during combat operations against an armed enemy at Camp A Shau, Republic of Vietnam from March 9 to 12, 1966. When the camp was attacked by a large North Vietnamese and Viet Cong force in the early morning hours, Sergeant First Class Adkins rushed through intense enemy fire and manned a mortar position continually adjusting fire for the camp, despite incurring wounds as the mortar pit received several direct hits from enemy mortars. Upon learning that several soldiers were wounded near the center of camp, he temporarily turned the mortar over to another soldier, ran through exploding mortar rounds and dragged several comrades to safety. As the hostile fire subsided, Sergeant First Class Adkins exposed himself to sporadic sniper fire while carrying his wounded comrades to the camp dispensary. When Sergeant First Class Adkins and his group of defenders came under heavy small arms fire from members of the Civilian Irregular Defense Group that had defected to fight with the North Vietnamese, he maneuvered outside the camp to evacuate a seriously wounded American and draw fire all the while successfully covering the rescue. When a resupply air drop landed outside of the camp perimeter, Sergeant First Class Adkins, again, moved outside of the camp walls to retrieve the much needed supplies. During the early morning hours of March 10, 1966 enemy forces launched their main attack and within two hours, Sergeant First Class Adkins was the only man firing a mortar weapon. When all mortar rounds were expended, Sergeant First Class Adkins began placing effective recoilless rifle fire upon enemy positions. Despite receiving additional wounds from enemy rounds exploding on his position, Sergeant First Class Adkins fought off intense waves of attacking Viet Cong. Sergeant First Class Adkins eliminated numerous insurgents with small arms fire after withdrawing to a communications bunker with several soldiers. Running extremely low on ammunition, he returned to the mortar pit, gathered vital ammunition and ran through intense fire back to the bunker. After being ordered to evacuate the camp, Sergeant First Class Adkins and a small group of soldiers destroyed all signal equipment and classified documents, dug their way out of the rear of the bunker and fought their way out of the camp. While carrying a wounded soldier to the extraction point he learned that the last helicopter had already departed. Sergeant First Class Adkins led the group while evading the enemy until they were rescued by helicopter on March 12, 1966. During the thirty-eight-hour battle and forty-eight hours of escape and evasion, fighting with mortars, machine guns, recoilless rifles, small arms, and hand grenades, it was estimated that Sergeant First Class Adkins killed between one hundred thirty-five and one hundred seventy-five of the enemy while sustaining eighteen different wounds to his body. Sergeant First Class Adkins’ extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, Detachment A-102, 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces and the United States Army.”

Sources: U.S. Army, “Command Sergeant Major Bennie G. Adkins,” Medal of Honor recipient profile and official citation; Congressional Medal of Honor Society, “Bennie G. Adkins” and “Medal of Honor Recipient Bennie G. Adkins Passes Away at 86”; City of Auburn, Alabama, “Bennie G. Adkins.”