Gordon Douglas Yntema

He stayed with his wounded comrades and fought to his death.

Gordon Douglas Yntema was born on June 26, 1945, in Bethesda, Maryland. He served as a U.S. Army sergeant in Detachment A-431, Company D, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne).

He enlisted in the Army in July 1963 and initially worked as a helicopter mechanic with the 82nd Airborne Division. He served for four months in the Dominican Republic in 1965, qualified as a Ranger in 1966 and joined Special Forces in January 1967. He arrived in Vietnam that October and received a Purple Heart for wounds suffered west of Saigon during the same month.

From January 16 to 18, 1968, near Thong Binh, South Vietnam, Yntema accompanied civilian irregular forces into heavy fighting. When their Vietnamese commander was wounded, he assumed control and directed the defense. Enemy fire and dwindling ammunition forced many soldiers to withdraw.

Seriously wounded himself, Yntema refused to abandon two fallen comrades. He carried them to a gully for protection and continued resisting the attackers. After exhausting his ammunition, he fought with his rifle as a club and was killed on January 18.

His widow received his posthumous Medal of Honor at the White House on November 18, 1969. He is buried at Pilgrim Home Cemetery in Holland, Michigan. His award commemorates loyalty to wounded comrades under overwhelming pressure.

Medal of Honor Citation

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sgt. Yntema, U.S. Army, distinguished himself while assigned to Detachment A-431, Company D. As part of a larger force of civilian irregulars from Camp Cai Cai, he accompanied two platoons to a blocking position east of the village of Thong Binh, where they became heavily engaged in a small-arms firefight with the Viet Cong.

Assuming control of the force when the Vietnamese commander was seriously wounded, he advanced his troops to within 50 meters of the enemy bunkers. After a fierce 30-minute firefight, the enemy forced Sgt. Yntema to withdraw his men to a trench in order to afford them protection and still perform their assigned blocking mission. Under cover of machine-gun fire, approximately one company of Viet Cong maneuvered into a position which pinned down the friendly platoons from three sides.

A dwindling ammunition supply, coupled with a Viet Cong mortar barrage which inflicted heavy losses on the exposed friendly troops, caused many of the irregulars to withdraw. Seriously wounded and ordered to withdraw himself, Sgt. Yntema refused to leave his fallen comrades. Under withering small-arms and machine-gun fire, he carried the wounded Vietnamese commander and a mortally wounded American Special Forces adviser to a small gully 50 meters away in order to shield them from the enemy fire. Sgt. Yntema then continued to repulse the attacking Viet Cong attempting to overrun his position until, out of ammunition and surrounded, he was offered the opportunity to surrender. Refusing, Sgt. Yntema stood his ground, using his rifle as a club to fight the approximately 15 Viet Cong attempting his capture. His resistance was so fierce that the Viet Cong were forced to shoot in order to overcome him. Sgt. Yntema's personal bravery in the face of insurmountable odds and supreme self-sacrifice were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect the utmost credit upon himself, the 1st Special Forces, and the U.S. Army.