Milton L. Olive III

He covered a grenade to save four other soldiers beside him.

Milton Lee Olive III was born in Chicago on 7 November 1946. His mother died shortly after his birth. He spent part of his childhood with relatives in Lexington, Mississippi, as well as in Chicago, and entered the Army while still seventeen in 1964.

He trained as a paratrooper and went to Vietnam in June 1965. Assigned to Company B, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, he served as a private first class during the early expansion of American ground operations.

On 22 October 1965, his platoon was moving through jungle near Phu Cuong when enemy fire temporarily pinned it down. The soldiers attacked the hostile positions and forced the opposing troops to withdraw. Olive and four other men continued through the vegetation in pursuit.

An enemy grenade landed among them. Olive immediately seized it and fell on it, using his body to absorb the explosion. He died, but the four soldiers with him survived. He was eighteen, less than three weeks short of his nineteenth birthday.

President Lyndon Johnson presented the posthumous Medal of Honor to Olive's father and stepmother at the White House on 21 April 1966. Two of the men he had saved attended the ceremony. In his remarks, Johnson spoke about Olive's sacrifice and the common responsibility of Americans to honour the lives of those who served together.

Olive was buried in West Grove Cemetery near Lexington. Schools, military facilities and a Chicago park were subsequently named in his memory. Commemorations in both Illinois and Mississippi preserved the story of a young soldier whose immediate decision prevented the deaths of the men around him. He became the first African American recipient of the Medal of Honor for the Vietnam War.

Official Medal of Honor citation Private First Class Milton L. Olive, III, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty while participating in a search and destroy operation in the vicinity of Phu Cuong, Republic of Vietnam, on 22 October 1965. Private Olive was a member of the 3d Platoon of Company B, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry, as it moved through the jungle to find the Viet Cong operating in the area. Although the Platoon was subjected to a heavy volume of enemy gun fire and pinned down temporarily, it retaliated by assaulting the Viet Cong positions, causing the enemy to flee. As the Platoon pursued the insurgents, Private Olive and four other soldiers were moving through the jungle together when a grenade was thrown into their midst. Private Olive saw the grenade, and then saved the lives of his fellow soldiers at the sacrifice of his own by grabbing the grenade in his hand and failing on it to absorb the blast with his body. Through his bravery, unhesitating actions, and complete disregard for his own safety, he prevented additional loss of life or injury to the members of his platoon. Private Olive's conspicuous gallantry, extraordinary heroism, and intrepidity at the risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty are in the highest traditions of the United States Army and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.