Paris Davis

Only four service members in United States military history have received both the Soldier's Medal and the Medal of Honor. Colonel Paris D. Davis is one of them. His 26-year U.S. Army career included service as a Green Beret, combat in Vietnam, command of the 10th Special Forces Group, and an extraordinary act of battlefield leadership that waited nearly 58 years for recognition with the nation's highest military decoration for valor.

Paris D. Davis was born on 13 May 1939 in Cleveland, Ohio. He attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he studied political science on an ROTC scholarship. Commissioned as an Army Reserve armor officer on 1 June 1959, Davis completed Airborne School and Ranger School in 1960. He later qualified for Special Forces and joined the 7th Special Forces Group, becoming one of the first African American officers to serve in the U.S. Army Special Forces during an era when racial segregation remained a recent reality in the American armed forces. His early overseas service included Korea, Vietnam and Okinawa, Japan.

Davis first deployed to Vietnam in 1962. He returned in 1965 and served as a captain commanding Detachment A-321, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces. In Bình Định Province, Davis and his Green Berets advised and trained the 883rd Regional Force Company, Army of the Republic of Vietnam, preparing local troops for operations against Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces.

Before the battle that would eventually bring him the Medal of Honor, Davis had already demonstrated remarkable courage. On 13 May 1965, he saw an aviation fuel truck jackknife and overturn near Bồng Sơn, trapping its driver against the steering wheel as the vehicle burned. Davis ordered others to remain clear, approached the truck despite the danger of explosion, forced the steering wheel away from the trapped soldier, freed him and carried him to safety. Moments later the fuel truck exploded. For this act of non-combat heroism, Davis received the Soldier's Medal, formally announced in Department of the Army General Orders No. 80 on 16 December 1968.

Barely a month later came the action that defined his military legacy. On 17 and 18 June 1965, Davis and three other American Special Forces advisers accompanied the 883rd Regional Force Company on its first combat mission, a nighttime raid against a Viet Cong regional headquarters near Bồng Sơn, South Vietnam. Davis's leadership helped the inexperienced company gain the tactical advantage against a substantially larger enemy force. What began as a successful raid became a desperate battle when the South Vietnamese force was hit by heavy enemy resistance and suffered casualties.

Davis refused to lead from cover. Under intense small-arms and grenade fire, he moved among his men, rallied the disorganized company and directed artillery and supporting fire. After being wounded, he continued fighting. When American soldiers were left wounded and exposed, Davis repeatedly entered areas swept by enemy fire to recover them. During one rescue he was shot in the leg. During another he crawled approximately 150 yards under fire, suffering additional wounds from grenade fragments as he reached a wounded teammate. At another critical point he directed artillery fire to within roughly 30 meters of his own position in an effort to stop the enemy advance.

For nearly 19 hours, Davis continued to fight, direct supporting fires and organize the evacuation of his wounded men while refusing medical evacuation for himself. Even after friendly reinforcements arrived, he would not leave until the wounded under his command had been recovered. His leadership helped prevent American soldiers from being killed or captured and helped keep the South Vietnamese company from being overrun by a numerically superior enemy force.

The Army initially recognized Davis's actions at Bồng Sơn with the Silver Star. During his second Vietnam tour, his officially documented decorations also included the Bronze Star Medal with "V" Device, the Purple Heart with one Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster, representing two awards of the Purple Heart, and the Air Medal with "V" Device. The Silver Star awarded for the June 1965 action was ultimately superseded when that same act of gallantry was recognized at the Medal of Honor level. It should therefore be understood as the original recognition of the Bồng Sơn action rather than as a separate Medal of Honor-era decoration for another action.

Davis's distinguished Vietnam service also brought recognition from the Republic of Vietnam. His recorded foreign honors included the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross, with citations at several levels, including Palm, Gold Star, Silver Star and Bronze Star, as well as the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces Honor Medal, First Class. These honors reflected the close advisory relationship between American Special Forces personnel and the South Vietnamese forces with whom Davis served. The surviving published award compilation attributes these details to Davis's DD Form 214 and U.S. Army correspondence.

His career did not end with Vietnam. Davis attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in 1971 and the Naval War College in 1980. His later assignments included service with the Army staff, the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Army headquarters in Europe. He also served in Thailand in 1967. Davis eventually assumed command of the 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, and was promoted to colonel in 1981. He retired from the United States Army on 30 July 1985, completing more than 26 years of military service.

The story of his June 1965 heroism, however, remained unfinished. Davis's commanding officer had submitted him for the Medal of Honor after the battle, yet the original recommendation was not successfully processed. A later submission also failed to reach a final award decision. Army historical accounts state that both packages were lost, and decades later veterans and supporters reconstructed the case and pursued formal reconsideration. While questions have long been raised about why such extraordinary valor went unrecognized for so long, the surviving documentary record does not establish a definitive motive for the failure of the original recommendations.

At last, on 3 March 2023, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. presented retired Colonel Paris D. Davis with the Medal of Honor at the White House. The official citation recognized Davis for gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty as commander of Detachment A-321 during the fighting near Bồng Sơn on 17 and 18 June 1965. It recorded his repeated exposure to hostile fire, his rescues of wounded Americans, his refusal of evacuation despite his own wounds, and his continued direction of the battle until his men were recovered. Three days later, Davis was inducted into the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes.

Davis had already built a distinguished life beyond the battlefield. He earned graduate degrees in public affairs and public administration, including a doctorate, and in 2019 was inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame. Following his retirement from military service, he published the Metro Herald newspaper in Alexandria, Virginia, for approximately 30 years, continuing a life of public and community service long after he removed the uniform.

Colonel Paris D. Davis's place in American military history rests on more than the medal finally placed around his neck in 2023. He was a pioneering Black Special Forces officer, a Green Beret commander, a Soldier's Medal recipient, a decorated Vietnam combat veteran and, above all, a leader who repeatedly chose the lives of his soldiers over his own safety. Nearly six decades separated the battle at Bồng Sơn from the Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House, but the passage of time did not diminish what Davis and the men beside him had done. It ultimately made the recognition of his courage one of the most remarkable stories in modern U.S. Army history.