Donald E. Ballard, Corpsman U.S. Navy, is awarded the Medal of Honor for action this date in Quang Tri Province. Ballard, from Kansas City, Missouri, was a corpsman with Company M, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. He had just finished evacuating two Marines with heatstroke when his unit was surprised by a Viet Cong ambush. Immediately racing to the aid of a casualty, Ballard applied a field dressing and was directing four Marines in the removal of the wounded man when an enemy soldier tossed a grenade into the group. With a warning shout of, "Grenade!" Ballard vaulted over the stretcher and pulled the grenade under his body. The grenade did not go off. Nevertheless, he received the Medal of Honor for his selfless act of courage. Ballard was only the second man whose valor was rewarded despite the fact that the deadly missile did not actually explode.
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May 16, 1968:
Navy Corpsman receives Medal of Honor for action
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This Week in History, May 16 - May 22
- May 16, 1965
- Accident at Bien Hoa kills 27 U.S. servicemen
- May 16, 1968
- Navy Corpsman receives Medal of Honor for action
- May 16, 1972
- U.S. bombing destroys main fuel line
- May 17, 1970
- Operations continue in Cambodia
- May 17, 1972
- South Vietnamese reinforcements near An Loc
- May 18, 1966
- Laird charges
- May 18, 1969
- Communists attack Xuan Loc
- May 19, 1964
- U.S. Air Force begins Operation Yankee Team
- May 19, 1972
- South Vietnamese fight to open road to An Loc
- May 20, 1953
- French see "light at the end of the tunnel" in Vietnam
- May 20, 1969
- Kennedy criticizes the "Hamburger Hill" battle
- May 21, 1969
- Military spokesman defends "Hamburger Hill"
- May 22, 1964
- Rusk warns North Vietnamese
- May 22, 1969
- Negotiators differ on diplomatic exchange
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