David P. Nash

He leaped onto a grenade to shield three soldiers on a dike.

Known to his family as Paulie, David Paul Nash grew up in Whitesville, Kentucky, attended St. Mary’s High School and served as an altar boy. He helped with farm work and worked at a filling station before being drafted in May 1968. After training, he deployed to Vietnam in October as a grenadier with the 9th Infantry Division.

David Paul Nash earned the Medal of Honor in Giao Duc District, South Vietnam, on December 29, 1968. A private first class in Company B, 2nd Battalion, 39th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division, he initially suppressed an attack with his grenade launcher so artillery could engage the enemy.

Later, while keeping watch on a narrow dike, Nash saw a grenade land near his position. He warned his companions and threw himself over it, absorbing the explosion and saving three soldiers at the cost of his life.

Born in Whitesville, Kentucky, on November 3, Nash was buried at Saint Mary’s of the Woods Cemetery there. His family received his posthumous medal on April 7, 1970.

Medal of Honor citation

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Pfc. Nash distinguished himself while serving as a grenadier with Company B, in Giao Duc district. When an ambush patrol of which he was a member suddenly came under intense attack before reaching its destination, he was the first to return the enemy fire. Taking an exposed location, Pfc. Nash suppressed the hostile fusillade with a rapid series of rounds from his grenade launcher, enabling artillery fire to be adjusted on the enemy. After the foe had been routed, his small element continued to the ambush site where he established a position with three fellow soldiers on a narrow dike. Shortly past midnight, while Pfc. Nash and a comrade kept watch and the two other men took their turn sleeping, an enemy grenade wounded two soldiers in the adjacent position. Seconds later, Pfc. Nash saw another grenade land only a few feet from his own position. Although he could have escaped harm by rolling down the other side of the dike, he shouted a warning to his comrades and leaped upon the lethal explosive. Absorbing the blast with his body, he saved the lives of the three men in the area at the sacrifice of his life. By his gallantry at the cost of his life and in the highest traditions of the military service, Pfc. Nash has reflected great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.