Ralph Ellis Dias

He crawled to the bunker and silenced it with a last grenade

Ralph Ellis Dias was born on 15 July 1950 in Shelocta, Pennsylvania. He served as a private first class with Company D, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division.

He attended Elderton Joint High School before enlisting in the Marine Corps in October 1967. After training in South Carolina and North Carolina, he served with the 28th Marines in California. In April 1969 he went to Vietnam as a rifleman with the 7th Marines.

On 12 November 1969 in Vietnam's Que Son Mountains, Dias's reaction force and the platoon it was assisting were pinned down. He attacked the machine-gun bunker responsible for much of the fire. Wounded repeatedly, he continued moving toward it and throwing grenades. His last grenade destroyed the position as he was mortally wounded.

Vice President Gerald Ford presented Dias's posthumous Medal of Honor to his family at Blair House on 17 July 1974. He is buried in Oakdale Cemetery in Leetonia, Ohio.

Medal of Honor citation

As a member of a reaction force which was pinned down by enemy fire while assisting a platoon in the same circumstance, Pfc. Dias, observing that both units were sustaining casualties, initiated an aggressive assault against an enemy machine-gun bunker which was the principal source of hostile fire. Severely wounded by enemy snipers while charging across the open area, he pulled himself to the shelter of a nearby rock. Braving enemy fire for a second time, Pfc. Dias was again wounded. Unable to walk, he crawled 15 meters to the protection of a rock located near his objective and, repeatedly exposing himself to intense hostile fire, unsuccessfully threw several hand grenades at the machine-gun emplacement. Still determined to destroy the emplacement, Pfc. Dias again moved into the open and was wounded a third time by sniper fire. As he threw a last grenade, which destroyed the enemy position, he was mortally wounded by another enemy round. Pfc. Dias' indomitable courage, dynamic initiative, and selfless devotion to duty upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country.