Rodney J. Evans

He crawled onto an enemy mine to shield his nearby soldiers.

Rodney John Evans was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on 17 July 1948 and became associated with Florala, Alabama. In Vietnam he served as a sergeant and squad leader in Company D, 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division.

On 18 July 1969, one day after his twenty-first birthday, Evans's platoon was reconnoitring a defended position in Tay Ninh Province. A scout warned that the trail was mined, so Evans took his squad along a parallel route. An explosion struck another squad. Evans then spotted a second enemy device close to his men.

He shouted a warning, dropped to the ground and crawled toward the explosive. An enemy soldier detonated it as he reached it. Evans took the blast with his body, saving comrades from death or serious injury. He died in the action and had no subsequent military or civilian career.

President Richard Nixon presented his posthumous Medal of Honor to his family on 22 April 1971. Evans is buried in Liberty Hill Cemetery, Florala.