It was a couple of weeks right into a months-long operation in Vietnam’s A Shau Valley on Feb. 13, 1969, when Marine Corps Cpl. Daniel “Duke” Heller stepped off on patrol to seek out the elusive North Vietnamese troopers who permeated this space of South Vietnam close to its border with Laos.
That day, three squads of Marines with Charlie Firm, 1st Battalion, ninth Marine Regiment, often known as “The Strolling Lifeless,” lower by way of tall grass that surrounded them and obscured their view.
Instantly, enemy rifles, machine weapons, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades burst by way of the air.
They’d walked into an ambush.
One other squad chief yelled at Heller to take his squad and flank the enemy place.
The workforce’s German Shepherd working canine was killed, and its handler, the squad level man, took a bullet within the leg.
Heller, 21, threw the person on his shoulders and started hauling him up a hill as an enemy machine gun opened hearth.
He returned to the battle, clearing certainly one of his fellow Marines’ jammed M60 machine gun. He then came across a second wounded comrade and started carrying him up the hill.
As he carried the Marine to medical consideration, an RPG struck the hillside, spraying shrapnel into his face and shoulder.
Over the course of the harrowing gun battle, Heller would save 4 Marines, lead his squad in outflanking the enemy, kill a number of North Vietnamese troopers and ship the attackers fleeing.
For all this, later within the deployment, he acquired the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with a fight “V” machine, noting it was for valor.
But it surely was not till Wednesday, greater than half a century later, on the Marine Corps Barracks, Washington D.C., that Heller’s actions had been absolutely and at last honored.
“It’s not usually we get the chance to appropriate an oversight that’s practically 60 years previous,” Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith stated throughout the ceremony. “This isn’t nearly correcting the report. It’s about making certain that the legacy of Marines like Cpl. Heller is honored in the way in which it ought to be.”
Smith known as Heller’s journeys to save lots of his comrades a “journey by way of hell.”
“Simply take into consideration that, take into consideration that hell raining down on you, machine weapons, mortars, computerized rifles and RPGs,” Smith stated.
The highest Marine then pinned a Navy Cross, the nation’s second-highest award for fight valor, on Heller’s shirt collar. Since its creation throughout World Battle I, greater than 5,400 people have acquired the award, based on Navy Occasions archives.
Smith recounted the remainder of the ambush and the way Heller’s actions modified historical past for a couple of squads of Marines.
Bloodied by RPG shrapnel, Heller waved off the corporate corpsman. Heller stated he was high quality and went again down the hill.
He pulled two extra wounded Marines to security earlier than speeding again into the battle. As his remaining squad members superior, he got here face-to-face with 4 North Vietnamese troopers and killed all 4. He later recalled taking pictures at 9, hitting six and seeing three flee.
The three squads managed to beat again the North Vietnamese ambush, sending enemy troopers fleeing.
That episode was solely three weeks into Operation Dewey Canyon, which lasted from late January to mid-March 1969. An estimated 130 ninth Marine Regiment Marines had been killed and one other 920 wounded throughout the operation.
Over an 18-month deployment to Vietnam, Heller’s squad would survive eight ambushes. He can be wounded 3 times however solely acquired two Purple Hearts, as a result of on one event he was wounded twice inside 24 hours.
“When the corpsman put it in, they stated ‘one per day,’” Heller stated.
At Wednesday’s ceremony, broadcast by the Marine Corps on Fb, Heller wore a black-and-gold Purple Coronary heart fight veteran ballcap as he acquired the Navy Cross.
He first thanked his platoon commander and his since-deceased platoon sergeant for his or her efforts to see that he acquired the award 55 years later.
“That day I didn’t do it for a Navy Cross,” Heller stated as he choked again tears. “Hell, I by no means even heard of a Navy Cross.”
He thanked his household for making the journey from Ohio for the ceremony.
“It’s been a protracted, winding highway right here however right here I’m,” he stated, spreading his arms vast. “Wonderful.”
The 76-year-old then concluded his temporary remarks.
“I simply wish to say Semper Fi,” he stated, rendering a salute. “And the way ‘bout them Jarheads.”
Editor’s be aware: Particulars of the fight actions and Vietnam tour of Cpl. Daniel Heller had been gathered from remarks made throughout his award ceremony, the Navy Cross award quotation and an interview he gave to Ohio native TV information outlet WCPO Channel 9 an ABC affiliate.
Todd South has written about crime, courts, authorities and the navy for a number of publications since 2004 and was named a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for a co-written challenge on witness intimidation. Todd is a Marine veteran of the Iraq Battle.
