The Medal of Honor is the highest military award. It is given to military members, often posthumously, for "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty.

He was the first of 268 Medal of Honor recipients of the Vietnam War. He spent the rest of his 30-plus-year career in the Army, retiring as a colonel in 1988. "I wear this award on behalf of those ...