Trump presents Medal of Honor to Army medic in secretive 'Operation Tailwind'
CLOSE
An Army medic who saved wounded soldiers from a Vietnam War kill zone despite his own serious injuries is receiving the Medal of Honor from President Donald Trump. (July 31)
AP
WASHINGTON — President Trump will present the Medal of Honor on Monday to an Army medic who treated more than 60 wounded soldiers behind enemy lines — in a place they weren’t supposed to be — during the Vietnam War.
Capt. Gary Rose spent four days in the jungles of Laos tending to the wounded, even after he himself was wounded by shrapnel that pierced through his foot.Â
It was a sensitive mission, code-named “Operation Tailwind,” shrouded in secrecy until a 1998 CNN report accused Rose’s unit of wrongdoing. A Pentagon investigation exonerated them, and Monday’s Medal of Honor provides further vindication of Rose’s valor in the 1970 mission.
More: President Trump to award Medal of Honor to Vietnam commando for valor in Laos
Now 69 and retired in Alabama, Rose says his recognition honors all Vietnam-era veterans. “They were asked to do a very difficult thing and they did it,” he told reporters at the Pentagon Friday.Â
Faced with the possibility of being drafted, Rose enlisted in the Army in 1967. He received training as a Special Forces medic and was dispatched to Southeast Asia in 1969.
His unit was to join forces with local fighters to attack the North Vietnamese Army in neighboring Laos, where the enemy had established a supply line known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
In 1970, Rose accompanied 15 American soldiers and about 100 South Vietnamese fighters known as Montagnards into Laos. Ferried by Marine Corps helicopters more than 40 miles behind enemy lines, they were peppered by gunfire as they found themselves landing near a major North Vietnamese supply hub.
Rose sprang into action, firing his weapon as he raced to an injured soldier trapped by heavy gunfire. And then he did it again. And again.Â
“Sgt. Rose, bravely and courageously, with no regard for his own safety, moved through the enemy fire to render lifesaving medical treatment to the mounting wounded, personally engaging the enemy to get the wounded men,†the Army said in its account.
On the second day, Rose himself was wounded as he dragged an injured soldier to safety. A rocket-propelled grenade hit nearby, exploding shrapnel into his back, leg and foot.
Later, Rose would take his boot off and slip his entire index finger through the wound in his foot. “I remember putting my sock back on. I remember thinking, I’ll worry about that later,” he told USA TODAY.Â
“It was like, ‘Here’s a Band Aid, take two aspirin and see me in the morning’ moment,” he said.
Rose continued to tend to the wounded soldiers with whatever dwindling supplies he had, doling out just enough morphine to blunt their pain and keep them moving.
On the fourth day, helicopters arrived under heavy fire to evacuate the company. Rose got on the last helicopter, which took on heavy fire and crashed miles away. He pulled the men from the burning wreckage and tended to their wounds until another helicopter arrived.
Back at base, Rose refused treatment until the other men were attended to, the Army said.
Despite the constant heavy firepower, only three men died over the four days.Â
Rose attended Officer Candidate School in 1973 and retired in 1987 at the rank of captain. He received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and more than a dozen other awards.
But it took an act of Congress for him to receive the nation’s highest military award.
His Medal of Honor is the second that Trump has awarded during his presidency.