Wayne Maurice Caron

Repeated wounds could not stop his care of stricken Marines.

Wayne Maurice Caron was born in Middleboro, Massachusetts, on 2 November 1946. At Memorial High School he took part in student leadership, serving as class president and president of the student council. He entered the Navy and trained as a hospital corpsman, choosing a role that placed the care of injured men at the centre of his service. Naval corpsmen attached to Marine infantry were sailors, but shared the dangers and daily work of the rifle companies they supported.

Caron deployed to Vietnam in 1968 and served as a hospital corpsman third class with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines. On 28 July, he was accompanying Company K during operations in Quang Nam Province. The Marines were crossing an open rice field when enemy small-arms fire began to cause casualties. Seeing two men fall, he ran to them immediately, only to find that both had been killed.

The platoon then came under more intense fire and suffered further losses. Caron went toward the wounded again. A bullet struck his arm and knocked him down, but he got up and continued. He treated the first Marine he reached, whose serious injuries demanded immediate assistance. While moving to another casualty, he was hit in the leg. Unable to continue normally, he crawled the remaining distance and treated that man too.

The official Medal of Honor citation records that he "regained his feet and continued to the injured marines" after the first hit (https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/wayne-m-caron). Its account then follows his continued attempts to reach others despite repeated wounds. He was struck again while approaching another casualty and was finally killed by a rocket round. His actions took place during his first month in Vietnam, ending his life at twenty-one.

There was no later career. His family received the posthumous Medal of Honor from Vice President Spiro Agnew at the White House on 20 April 1970. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His decorations also included the Purple Heart and Vietnamese recognition of his service. The Navy later named the destroyer USS Caron in his honour, preserving the connection between a naval medical specialist and the Marines he refused to abandon.