I started working at an early age.
In Oklahoma, it was economically depressed.
I think I was carrying 100 pounds of cement at 12 years old.
My father was a tough man.
He knew how to survive.
I learned land navigation from him,
and of course how to shoot.
He was a good shot.
I had an uncle that served in the military.
I used to admire him and my brother both in their uniforms,
and I wanted to be a soldier.
I heard about the Green Berets and I said,
"I like that, I want to be a part of that."
I was 5 foot 4, 117 pounds
and going to the Green Berets.
I got orders for Vietnam, February of '69.
They were organizing a special weapons platoon.
We called it "Rat Patrol".
We went out and fought the enemy, anywhere we could find them.
So, I started off with a bang, right quick.
They assigned me to another unit
down in southern Vietnam, the Mekong Delta.
Their mission was to search and destroy.
It was a major operation planned near the Cambodian border
near the town of Chi Lang.
I didn't really know how hot that operation was.
The night before, I was watching the helicopter gunships
and you'd see the green tracers go down and the red tracers come up.
And I said, "Uh-oh, tomorrow it's gonna be hot."
I just had an uneasy feeling about this one.
So next morning, we move out.
We get into this village, and no activity, no people.
I didn't like the idea that there's was one person in the village,
and she was singing loudly.
So I reorganized my company
and put all my weapons into one platoon.
The skills that Staff Sergeant Melvin Morris had spent years mastering
in the woods of Oklahoma,
tracking game and learning to survive on his own
would be severely tested in the next few hours
as his unit came under attack by a far larger enemy force.
I got a radio call.
I said my team sergeant had been KIA and my team captain,
he was hit several places.
He had to be medevaced.
I get another call, that the intel sergeant kicked a mine.
So all three of them were down,
so that leaves me and my young assistant.
Now my job is to find the team sergeant's body and recover it .
Because we have a motto, you leave no brother behind.
It's a brotherhood.
You become part of each other, you become like a family.
You go in together, and you come out together.
That's the way it is.
We reached the area where the team sergeant's body was at,
and we were taking quite a bit of fire.
I got two volunteers.
We went into the woods, came right to him.
I prayed over him.
Amazingly, there wasn't no shooting.
But after I finished praying over him, the woods opened up.
Bullets were coming from everywhere.
The two with me got wounded right away.
I got them two, and I got them out.
So I had to go back in.
I got two more volunteers.
We went in, got the team sergeant's body,
got the body out, and the map case fell out of his pocket.
That's got classified information on it.
Troop movements, codes for the radios,.
You just don't let that get into enemy hands.
I just had to get that information out of there.
I went in, and I threw hand grenades
in every bunker I could find.
Interpreter coming in behind me, he got the map case.
After we got the map case, there was an enemy that come out of nowhere.
He shot me.
So, now I'm in there by myself and I'm wounded.
I was shot close range,
and I can see bubbles coming out of my chest.
I get up behind a palm tree.
And I got my first aid packet,
and I patched the hole in my chest.
They were shooting right into the palm tree.
I had one grenade left and I threw that at one of the enemies to my left,
and during that time I got shot again.
This time I lose my weapon,
so I don't have a clue how to get out.
There happened to be Navy Seabees in a light observation helicopter.
I got my radio.
So I asked them what they could do.
They dropped what they had.
That gave me enough chance to get out.
I rolled over, I got my weapon and I started firing.
Now my finger's hanging off.
And I thought this at one point, just tear it off,
and pull it off and just keep going.
But then I said no, I left it.
But I started spraying, and I fired every magazine I had.
And I said "Now you gotta run.
And don't run a straight line, run zigzag, run the best you can."
I don't know how far I had to run,
and with three bullet holes I didn't feel the pain.
I don't feel nothing.
I catch up with them.
And a medevac helicopter come in to take me out.
After we got airborne he said, "Well I gotta make another stop
to evacuate some more people."
And I looked down, and I see them fighting.
I was terrified at that point, now that was what was scary to me.
They had a parade in April 1970,
and I was awarded the nation's second highest decoration,
the Distinguished Service Cross.
But at the same time, I got orders to go back to Vietnam,
and I was back in Vietnam by early May.
Volunteering for two tours in Vietnam,
Melvin Morris continued to serve until his retirement in 1985.
Never did he imagine that his Distinguished Service Cross
would be recommended for an upgrade to a Medal of Honor,
and that he would receive a call from the White House.
He got on the phone and he said, "This is President Obama,
and I want to apologize to you
for not receiving the Medal of Honor 44 years ago,
and that I'm going to award you the Congressional Medal of Honor".
And I kind of like went down a little bit
and he said "Be cool, be cool, be cool".
That's the way he is.
You're happy.
You're glad.
You're nervous.
You know, you got a lot of anxiety.
All those things just come up.
I just became very proud.
I don't know, it just seemed like a weight was lifted off of me or something.
It means a lot to me to try to get the word out.
These children today are our leaders tomorrow,
and I talk to them as though they were my kids.
And I say "Love your community.
Love your family."
I tell them, "You are your brother's keeper."
And we are, we are.