Roy M. Wheat

He warned his comrades and covered the mine as it detonated.

Roy Mitchell Wheat was born in Moselle, Mississippi, on 24 July 1947. He attended school in Ellisville before leaving in 1965, then worked in a supermarket. He enlisted in September 1966 and trained at Parris Island and Camp Lejeune. In March 1967 he arrived in Vietnam as a rifleman.

Roy M. Wheat served as a Marine lance corporal in Company K, 3d Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division. On 11 August 1967, he and two other Marines guarded a Navy construction crew along Liberty Road in Vietnam’s Quang Nam Province. After checking nearby ground, Wheat accidentally triggered a concealed antipersonnel mine close to their position. Recognizing the burning fuse, he warned his comrades and threw himself onto the mine. He died absorbing the explosion and protecting the other Marines from injury or death. His posthumous Medal of Honor commemorates that sacrifice.

His family received the Medal of Honor at Marine Barracks Washington on 23 September 1968. The two Marines he saved attended the ceremony. His military career ended with his death at age twenty.

Medal of Honor citation

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. L/Cpl. Wheat and two other marines were assigned the mission of providing security for a Navy construction battalion crane and crew operating along Liberty Road in the vicinity of the Dien Ban district, Quang Nam Province. After the marines had set up security positions in a treeline adjacent to the work site, L/Cpl. Wheat reconnoitered the area to the rear of their location for the possible presence of guerrillas. He then returned to within 10 feet of the friendly position and here unintentionally triggered a well-concealed, bounding type antipersonnel mine. Immediately, a hissing sound was heard which was identified by the three marines as that of a burning time fuse. Shouting a warning to his comrades, L/Cpl. Wheat in a valiant act of heroism hurled himself upon the mine, absorbing the tremendous impact of the explosion with his body. The inspirational personal heroism and extraordinary valor of his unselfish action saved his fellow marines from certain injury and possible death, reflected great credit upon himself, and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.