Gary Lee Littrell

For four days, he held a besieged Ranger battalion together.

On April 4, 1970, Sergeant First Class Gary Lee Littrell was serving as a light-weapons infantry adviser to the 23rd Battalion, 2nd Ranger Group, Army of the Republic of Vietnam, near Dak Seang in Kontum Province. After the battalion established a hilltop perimeter, an intense mortar attack killed its Vietnamese commander and one American adviser and seriously wounded the other advisers. Littrell was the only American adviser left unwounded.

Through four days of repeated assaults, Littrell continually left cover to reach the positions under greatest pressure. By day he directed artillery and air support; by night he marked the battalion's location for supporting aircraft despite concentrated enemy fire. He redistributed ammunition, reinforced weakening defenses, treated wounded men and encouraged the Rangers in Vietnamese. When the battalion was ordered to withdraw on April 8, it met repeated ambushes. Littrell directed air strikes to within fifty meters of its position, maintained order and helped the survivors fight their way to friendly forces. His endurance and leadership prevented further casualties and earned him the Medal of Honor.

Born on October 26, 1944, in Henderson, Kentucky, Littrell enlisted in the United States Army the day after his seventeenth birthday. He served with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Okinawa and the 82nd Airborne Division, including during the intervention in the Dominican Republic. After graduating from Ranger School in 1966, he remained there as an instructor. He later studied Vietnamese before joining Advisory Team 21, II Corps Advisory Group, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, in 1969.

President Richard Nixon presented Littrell with the Medal of Honor at the White House on October 15, 1973. Littrell later returned to Vietnam and continued his Army career until retiring as a command sergeant major on October 31, 1983. He went on to counsel veterans through the Department of Veterans Affairs, was inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame in 1993 and served as president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. His legacy is defined by four days of relentless leadership among soldiers facing overwhelming odds.