"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself." Joseph Campbell
Forty-Two Years Later Hero Awarded Medal of Honor
It was May 10, 1970 in the Se San River Valley in Cambodia. An American platoon was ambushed by a larger North Vietnamese force. One Airborne soldier charged a flanking enemy force, killing several of the enemy and drew fire away from the American troops. His actions forced the North Vietnamese force to retreat. As he was reloading his rifle, an enemy grenade landed nearby. He picked it up and threw it back toward the enemy while shielding his own troops from the blast. It was then he received his first wound from the blast and from enemy fire. But he continued fighting, charged the enemy and threw another grenade. The grenade explosion killed the enemy, but the blast also killed the soldier.
That soldier was Army Spc. Leslie Sabo. After 42 years, he was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously yesterday at the White House. The citation recommending Sabo for the Medal of Honor was lost after the war. It resurfaced in 1999 in the National Archives. Sabo's widow, Rose Marie Sabo Brown, accepted the honor.
Spec. Leslie Sabo served with Company B, 3rd Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division.
Forty-Two Years Later Hero Awarded Medal of Honor
It was May 10, 1970 in the Se San River Valley in Cambodia. An American platoon was ambushed by a larger North Vietnamese force. One Airborne soldier charged a flanking enemy force, killing several of the enemy and drew fire away from the American troops. His actions forced the North Vietnamese force to retreat. As he was reloading his rifle, an enemy grenade landed nearby. He picked it up and threw it back toward the enemy while shielding his own troops from the blast. It was then he received his first wound from the blast and from enemy fire. But he continued fighting, charged the enemy and threw another grenade. The grenade explosion killed the enemy, but the blast also killed the soldier.
That soldier was Army Spc. Leslie Sabo. After 42 years, he was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously yesterday at the White House. The citation recommending Sabo for the Medal of Honor was lost after the war. It resurfaced in 1999 in the National Archives. Sabo's widow, Rose Marie Sabo Brown, accepted the honor.
Spec. Leslie Sabo served with Company B, 3rd Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division.
Army Spc. Leslie Sabo
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