I was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, 1946, the youngest of four siblings.
My dad managed lumberyards in various places in Nebraska.
He died when I was three.
So my mother, she was always very strong.
I'd say mom was the best role model you could ask for.
My mom gave me two values, that would be honesty and hard work.
In high school, you know, Vietnam had just started,
we were just barely getting involved.
And there was talk about if you didn't stay in school you'd get drafted
and you'd be in Vietnam before you knew it.
So I graduated from high school, went on to the University of Nebraska.
I decided to sit out a semester, earn some money to go back to college.
And while I was working, I got my draft notice.
And you know, my comment was you serve, you don't refuse it.
In May of 1966, I went on my merry way.
NARRATOR: Charles Hagemeister was drafted into the Army in 1966.
After basic training he was sent to Fort Sam Houston to be trained as a medic.
Hagemeister arrived in Vietnam in November of that year
and was assigned to A Company of the First Cavalry.
A Company, First of Fifth Cav., was the division commander's ready reaction force.
Whenever there was a fight, A Company got sent into it.
And we were patrolling and securing villages and searching villages for most of March.
We came out of the field on the 19th to our forward operating base.
We were told we were going to link up with a company that had been ambushed
at 8:00 AM that morning and that they had lost most of their chain of command
and we were supposed to go in and link up with them.
We landed and we started sweeping toward
where this company was supposedly pinned down.
And I realized I was out there at almost the end of the line.
And so I started going to the platoon sergeant's machine gun squad
which was where the majority of my platoon was.
And I got caught between a machine gun squad
and a machine gun squad when the fire hit.
More fire than I had ever seen in my life was coming in.
We were surrounded right away.
Danny Hale yelled that the platoon leader was hit.
And so I got rid of my rucksack and kept my ammunition
and my medical supplies with me and took off to where the platoon leader was.
I got to the platoon leader and he was hit in the side of the head.
And I could see, you know, between putting the dressing on the guy's head,
I could see the guy shooting at me.
And, you know, I can't do two things at once very well,
so I picked up the platoon leader's rifle and shot the guy.
I got the platoon leader taken care of and Danny Hale, his RTO, was busy firing away.
And I could hear the radio. You know?
I can hear High Pocket Six calling on the radio wanting to know what's happened.
You know? I'm the least employed of the bunch right now.
So I pick up the radio and start telling the company commander what the situation is.
You know, and what we need.
And where we need to fire at and everything else,
just kind of taking charge because I was the only one available.
And then they said that the machine gunner, Tom Watson, was wounded and his crew.
And I took off out to the flank because that's where I'd been with them
and took care of Tom Watson and Thomas.
And a kid named Baker's out there, he was the junior ammo bearer.
He'd been in Vietnam probably seven days.
He is the left flank of the platoon now,
and he's out there with his M-16 firing up a storm.
I look at him and laying there in front of me is a machine gun.
So I grab him and say, "Would it be better to use the machine gun?"
And Baker took that machine gun and held the left flank of the First Platoon
of A Company the entire night.
I went back and told the company commander
where we needed the artillery again and everything else.
And we couldn't get air strikes in because the company
we were supposed to go relieve was too close to us to bring in air strikes
between us and them and all this other stuff.
And I told the company commander that we needed some help up there,
we needed some help really, really bad.
And his comment was that the Third Platoon couldn't find us.
And you know, I'm saying, "We're in the middle of a fight.
We've got a village burning around us and they can't find us?"
And so I said, you know, "I'm going back and getting them."
So I took off back to where the Third Platoon was supposed to be.
And I got back there and found them and told the platoon sergeant,
because their platoon leader had been killed a couple of days before,
that we needed some help because I had more wounded than I had healthy people,
and I needed people to get my wounded out.
NARRATOR: Returning with help, Hagemeister placed the man in position
to cover his advance, then moved forward to evacuate the first group of wounded.
He then moved to the other flank and evacuated additional wounded men
despite the fact that his every move drew fire from the enemy.
Hagemeister's heroic and selfless action saved the lives of many of his comrades
and inspired them as they fought to repel the enemy assault.
I had heard about the Medal of Honor,
and they had talked about it when I went through basic and AIT.
They told us stories about some of the Medal of Honor recipients.
And it was almost comical
because when they were announcing who was going to what unit in Vietnam
and you know, you're the macho kid in AIT and
you're standing around with all your friends.
And I told the guy that I was drafted with
when they announced that we were going to the First Cav. Division,
I said, "What a great opportunity."
I said, "I can go to the First Cav., I can get my Medal of Honor,
no Purple Heart, and come back and get out of the Army."
People that were there for that conversation,
who accused me of intentionally going out to get it.
And I always tell them, I said, "No," I said, "it just happened."
It was the first time that all four services had been decorated at the same time.
And President Johnson walks up and, you know, imposing as he is,
he reaches out and you shake his hand.
And he looks at me and says, "Specialist Hagemeister,"
he says, "how long do you have left in the military?"
And I said, "I have 72 hours, sir."
And he's still got my hand, he's just crushing it.
And he leans over my shoulder to the Army Four-Star General,
and he says, "You talk to him. Convince him to stay."
Twenty-two years later I retired.
What I did on the 20th of March was, I did my job.
Yeah, I had to do some things that were probably, you know, not required of a medic
and as they said, nobody would have thought anything if I hadn't done it.
What I was doing that night was for the love of my fellow soldiers
and taking care of Chuck Hagemeister and doing all of those things
just to make sure that the majority of us, or as many as possible of us
came out of that ambush alive.