Stephen Karopczyc

He covered the grenade, then kept directing his wounded men.

Stephen Edward Karopczyc was born in New York City on 5 March 1944 and grew up on Long Island. He attended Island Trees schools before graduating from Chaminade High School in 1961. He continued his education at Spring Hill College in Alabama, graduating in 1965, then entered the United States Army.

By March 1967 he was a first lieutenant leading the 3rd Platoon of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam. His responsibility was to bring his platoon through combat while coordinating its movement and supporting fire with the other troops around it. On 12 March, only a week after his twenty-third birthday, that responsibility became a struggle to keep wounded men alive.

In Kontum Province his platoon was moving around a superior enemy force to relieve another American platoon under heavy pressure. Enemy soldiers blocked the route. Karopczyc exposed himself to their fire and threw coloured smoke grenades to identify their position for helicopter gunships. He then organised supporting fire and led the advance.

A sniper's bullet struck him above the heart. He pressed a finger against the wound and declined medical attention so treatment could go to others. As the Americans occupied abandoned bunkers, the fighting continued at close range. An enemy grenade landed near two wounded soldiers. Karopczyc moved over it, covering it with his helmet and absorbing the blast with his body.

His Medal of Honor citation records that the explosion wounded his legs but did not end his leadership. He continued directing his men for approximately two hours before dying from his wounds. The citation recognises both his conduct in the attack and his repeated refusal to put his own treatment before the safety of his soldiers (official Army citation: https://www.army.mil/MEDALOFHONOR/citations25.html).

Karopczyc was buried at Long Island National Cemetery. On 9 January 1969, Secretary of the Army Stanley Resor presented his posthumous Medal of Honor to his family at the Pentagon. His schools preserved his memory: Chaminade displayed a copy of the decoration, and Spring Hill dedicated a memorial in 1987. His short passage from student to platoon leader ended in an action remembered for sustained command and the deliberate protection of men who could not protect themselves.