Nearly 60 years after he was first recommended for the nation’s highest military award for his bravery during the Vietnam War, retired Col. Paris Davis, one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat, received the Medal of Honor on Friday.

The belated recognition for the 83-year-old Virginia resident came after the recommendation for the medal was lost, resubmitted — and then lost again.

President Joe Biden awards the Medal of Honor to retired Army Col. Paris Davis for his heroism during the Vietnam War, in the East Room of the White House, Friday, March 3, 2023, in Washington. Davis, then a captain and commander with the 5th Special Forces Group, engaged in nearly continuous combat during a pre-dawn raid on a North Vietnamese army camp in the village of Bong Son in Binh Dinh province. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

It wasn’t until 2016 — half a century after Davis risked his life to save some of his men under fire — that advocates painstakingly recreated and resubmitted the paperwork.

President Joe Biden on Friday described Davis as a “true hero,” describing his efforts to haul injured soldiers to safety under heavy enemy fire. When one of his superiors told him to get to safety, Davis said, according to Biden: “Sir, I”m just not going to leave. I still have an American out there,” and he went back into the firefight to carry out an injured medic.

“You are everything this medal means,” Biden said to Davis. “You’re everything our nation is at our best. Brave and big hearted, determined and devoted, selfless and steadfast.”

Biden said Davis should have received the honor years ago, describing remaining segregation when he returned home and questioning why the honor took so long.

“Somehow the paperwork was never processed,” Biden said. “Not just once. But twice.”

Davis doesn’t dwell on it. He says he doesn’t know why it has taken decades.

“Right now I’m overwhelmed,” he told The Associated Press in an interview the day before he attended the White House ceremony where Biden placed the blue ribbon holding the Medal of Honor around his neck.

“When you’re fighting, you’re not thinking about this moment,” Davis said. “You’re just trying to get through that moment.”

“That moment” stretched over nearly 19 hours and two days in mid-June 1965.Retired Army Col. Paris Davis listens as President Joe Biden speaks before awarding the Medal of Honor to Davis for his heroism during the Vietnam War, in the East Room of the White House, Friday, March 3, 2023, in Washington. Davis, then a captain and commander with the 5th Special Forces Group, engaged in nearly continuous combat during a pre-dawn raid on a North Vietnamese army camp in the village of Bong Son in Binh Dinh province. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Davis, then a captain and commander with the 5th Special Forces Group, engaged in nearly continuous combat during a pre-dawn raid on a North Vietnamese army camp in the village of Bong Son in Binh Dinh province.

He engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the North Vietnamese, called for precision artillery fire and thwarted the capture of three American soldiers — all while suffering wounds from gunshots and grenade fragments. He used his pinkie finger to fire his rifle after his hand was shattered by an enemy grenade, according to reports.

Davis repeatedly sprinted into an open rice paddy to rescue members of his team, according to the ArmyTimes. His entire team survived.

“That word ‘gallantry’ is not much used these days,” Biden said. “But I can think of no better word to describe Paris.”

Davis, from Cleveland, retired in 1985 at the rank of lieutenant colonel and now lives in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington. Biden called him several weeks ago to deliver the news.

He says the wait in no way lessens the honor.

“It heightens the thing, if you’ve got to wait that long,” he said. “It’s like someone promised you an ice cream cone. You know what it looks like, what it smells like. You just haven’t licked it.”

Source: Biden awards Black Vietnam vet Col. Paris Davis, 83, with Medal of Honor