Emilio A. De La Garza

He shielded fellow Marines from a grenade beside a dark pond

Emilio Albert De La Garza Jr. was born in East Chicago, Indiana, on 23 June 1949. He graduated from Washington High School in 1968 and worked for Inland Steel before entering the Marine Corps. He served in Vietnam as a machine gunner with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division.

On 11 April 1970, returning from a night ambush near Da Nang, he joined his platoon commander and another Marine in searching for enemy soldiers near a pond. When they discovered a concealed soldier, De La Garza helped pull him from cover. The man released a grenade at close range. De La Garza shouted a warning and placed himself between the explosion and his companions, absorbing the blast and saving their lives.

He died aged twenty and received the Medal of Honor posthumously. His wife and daughter survived him. His short life ended with an immediate decision to protect the Marines beside him, the act for which his nation awarded its highest combat decoration.

Medal of Honor citation excerpt

“By his prompt and decisive action and his great personal valor in the face of almost certain death”