Hammett L. Bowen Jr.

He fell on a live grenade to save three soldiers beside him.

Hammett Lee Bowen Jr. was born in LaGrange, Georgia, on 30 November 1947 and grew up with ties to Florida. He entered the Army from Jacksonville in 1965. His Army service led to infantry leadership responsibilities before his final tour in Vietnam.

By June 1969 he was a staff sergeant in Company C, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. He served as a platoon sergeant, a position that placed him beside the soldiers carrying out reconnaissance and patrols in contested ground. His responsibility was to keep them organised and respond quickly when contact changed a routine movement into a fight.

On 27 June his platoon advanced into enemy-controlled terrain in Binh Duong Province. An ambush force opened a heavy crossfire with small arms and grenades. Bowen immediately engaged the hostile positions, providing suppressive fire while ordering his men to withdraw. He remained with them as they moved back rather than seeking shelter for himself.

An enemy grenade then landed among Bowen and three soldiers. There was little time to react. He shouted a warning and threw himself onto it, taking the explosion in his own body. He was killed, but the three men beside him survived because he absorbed the blast.

His posthumous Medal of Honor recognised a final act of protection carried out while he was already leading a withdrawal under fire. He was twenty-one and had spent almost four years in the Army. Bowen was buried at Restlawn Memory Gardens in LaGrange. His actions allowed the three men beside him to return from an ambush that he did not survive.

Official Medal of Honor citation SSgt. Bowen distinguished himself while serving as a platoon sergeant during combat operations in Binh Duong Province, Republic of Vietnam. SSgt. Bowen's platoon was advancing on a reconnaissance mission into enemy-controlled terrain when it came under the withering crossfire of small arms and grenades from an enemy ambush force. SSgt. Bowen placed heavy suppressive fire on the enemy positions and ordered his men to fall back. As the platoon was moving back, an enemy grenade was thrown amid SSgt. Bowen and three of his men. Sensing the danger to his comrades, SSgt. Bowen shouted a warning to his men and hurled himself on the grenade, absorbing the explosion with his body while saving the lives of his fellow soldiers. SSgt. Bowen's extraordinary courage and concern for his men at the cost of his life served as an inspiration to his comrades and are in the highest traditions of the military service and the U.S. Army.