Friday, August 15, 2014

Deaths: Vietnam War Medal of Honor Recipient, Jon Cavaiani-- Part 1

From the August 6, 2014, Chicago Tribune "Medal of Honor recipient, POW in Vietnam War" by Emily Langer, Washington Post.

JON CAVAIANI (1943-2014)

Jon Cavaiani, an Army sergeant major and Special Forces veteran, who received the Medal of Honor, the military's highest award for valor, for leading his outnumbered unit in defense of a strategically critical outpost died July 29, 2014 at age 70.

In 1971, as a staff sergeant, he was in charge of a platoon protecting a remote hilltop in the northwestern part of what was then South Vietnam.  This area also happened to be controlled by the North Vietnamese.  His unit had highly advanced and top secret equipment to intercept enemy communications and monitor movement on the Ho Chi Minh Trail and was on a site referred to as Hickory Hill.

On June 4 and 5, the enemy attacked the camp and Caviani led the defense after his captain was wounded and evacuated.  Mr. Cavaiani "acted with complete disregard for his personal safety as he repeatedly exposed himself to heavy enemy fire in order to move about the camp's perimeter directing the platoon's fire and rallying the platoon in a desperate fight for survival," his medal citation reads.

A Real Hero.


No comments: