Larry Eugene Smedley

He charged a machine gun despite repeated and severe wounds.

Larry Eugene Smedley was born at Front Royal, Virginia, on 4 March 1949. His childhood took him through Virginia and Georgia before his family settled near Orlando, Florida. He left Colonial High School at seventeen to enlist in the Marine Corps in 1966. After recruit and infantry training he served as a rifleman and fire team leader at Camp Lejeune.

In July 1967 Smedley arrived in Vietnam and joined Company D, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division. He served as a rifleman and squad radioman and became a corporal that September. During the nights of 20–21 December he led six men to an ambush position at the mouth of Happy Valley, near Phuoc Ninh in Quang Nam Province. They observed about a hundred enemy troops moving rockets and mortars toward Hill 41, threatening the Da Nang complex.

Smedley called for reinforcements, moved his squad to a stronger position and attacked the much larger force. A machine gun inflicted casualties on his men and a rifle grenade wounded his foot. He got up and led a charge, firing his rifle and throwing grenades, until further enemy fire brought him down. Despite severe wounds and loss of blood he rose again and assaulted the machine-gun position alone. He destroyed it before a chest wound killed him.

Smedley was eighteen. His remains were buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. President Richard Nixon presented his posthumous Medal of Honor to his family on 20 June 1969. A Vietnam war museum in the Orlando area and other local memorials bear his name, preserving the connection between his Florida upbringing and his final action.

Official citation (excerpt)

"His aggressive and singlehanded attack resulted in the destruction of the machinegun."