I was born in a little, small city in Alabama, Opelika, Alabama,
Lee County.
And I remember quite a bit about my childhood because I was
born during the Second World War, just before the Second World War.
And my father was drafted during the Second World War,
and I was raised by my grandmother.
My mother went to work in a textile mill in Opelika to take care of us.
And my sister and I were raised by my grandmother.
So...
my childhood was really rewarding to me,
but it was quite difficult as I look back and compare it to
nowadays.
I didn't realize that it was difficult at the time.
But I've had to work all of my life.
It seemed like life has been a tremendous struggle
just to survive.
NARRATOR: Robert Howard enlisted in the Army
after finishing high school in July of 1956.
His father and four uncles had been paratroopers
during the Second World War.
So he elected to do the same.
Howard served five tours of duty in Vietnam
and received a direct appointment to the U.S. Army Special Forces.
He is the only soldier to be nominated for the Medal of Honor
three times
for three separate actions,
all within a 13-month period.
On December 28th, 1968,
Howard was first sergeant of a reconnaissance company
at Kon Tum,
where they received reports that six Allied soldiers
had been captured by the North Vietnamese.
Howard was sent to assist in their recovery.
We put together a large-sized reinforced, platoon-sized operation.
And they got the helicopter support to take us in.
We were trying to get into the area where they last communicated from.
And in the process of doing that we started receiving a lot of ground fire.
We were taking casualties on the insert.
And we finally got in on the ground, and I got with the lieutenant.
And he says,
"Bob, we need to secure this LZ,
and I want you to get a couple men and secure the exterior of the LZ."
And I got three men behind me, and I can remember being fired at.
And I fell backwards and they killed three men behind me.
And I'm firing and killing the North Vietnamese that were trying to kill us.
So I made my way back to the lieutenant
and told them that the LZ was completely surrounded.
And by that time one of the helicopters had been shot down
with some of the troops on it that we were trying to get into the LZ.
And we just fought our way off the drop zone.
The lieutenant was up front and we were moving toward the high ground.
And we were still receiving sporadic fire on our flanks.
And so I made my way up toward the front of the platoon to tell the lieutenant.
Just as I made my way up toward the front
trying to get close to the lieutenant,
we were ambushed. Sure enough, we'd walked right into an ambush.
So when I came to, I was blown up in a crumple on the ground.
And my weapon was blown out of my hand.
And I can remember seeing red
and saying a prayer hoping I wasn't blind. I couldn't see.
And I knew I was in a lot of pain and my hands were hurting.
I couldn't get up.
And I really didn't want to get up anyway because I couldn't see.
And then I finally started getting the vision back.
And it was like blood was in my eyes and I started feeling,
but my hands were all blown up.
And then it was like there was a big flame and there was smoke.
And there were people screaming and hollering.
And it, in fact, was an enemy soldier that was burning the people
that had been ambushed with a flame thrower.
And the guy walked up to me and was getting ready to burn me.
And he looked at me. And...
he didn't burn the lieutenant.
The lieutenant was about five feet away from me.
And he's laying face forward. And he was hollering.
He was screaming. I knew he was hurt.
And the guy looked at me with the flame thrower.
And then I looked at him.
And I guess I looked so bad and pitiful he decided not to burn me up.
He just turned and walked off.
And then I crawled forward
and got a hold of Lieutenant Sheridan and started pulling him backwards.
And I'm pulling this guy. And he was a tall guy,
about six-foot-four and weighed about 200 pounds.
And my hands were hurting and bleeding.
And I was bleeding all over, but I was able to pull him.
And I was trying to talk to him and tell him to hold on, he's still alive.
So I'm pulling back down the hill.
And there was a sergeant
that was laying down behind the log with a weapon that hadn't been wounded.
He had seen this but he was crying and not using his weapon.
And here I am begging him to help me
because I can't walk and drag the lieutenant back down.
I said, "Well, give me your weapon." And he wouldn't give me his weapon,
but he did give me a .45.
Just as he gave me the .45,
and I'm trying to tell him to give me a couple of more magazines of rounds for it,
a bunch of enemy soldiers come running towards us.
So here I am trying to fire the handgun.
And I can remember shooting this enemy soldier
that was fixing to stick me with a bayonet. He's running toward me.
In fact, he fell across the lieutenant that I was dragging.
And so just as he fell across, there was another one behind him.
They were trying to get us alive is what they were trying to do.
Well, then this sergeant that I was arguing-- almost fighting with,
got up and started firing his weapon and started killing the enemy soldiers.
And actually at that time I got hit again.
I guess I must have been hit by about 15 or 20 rounds
because it hit the magazines.
And my magazines exploded
in my ammo pouch.
And so I'm being blown up and then off to the side.
And here I am thinking I'm blown up again.
And there were other soldiers back behind him
that hadn't been hurt at all that had been watching us
being almost executed by the enemy and not doing anything.
Not even firing their weapon.
Then I was out of ammo when I didn't have any more ammo for the .45.
So it got kind of confusing from that point.
The next thing I remember, I was in and out...
I was down at the bottom of the hill and there was a medic--
a sergeant named Brown
who got shot up pretty bad.
But he came over to me. And I said, "Is the lieutenant still alive?"
And he said, "Yes." He said, "We've got him down."
He said, "I've got an IV in him.
But I don't think he's gonna make it."
I said, "Make him make it."
I said, "You keep that lieutenant alive."
There were three other sergeants with him.
And they had an IV in him. And I said,
"Let's set up a quick perimeter right here. We're not moving anymore.
And I want you to get every live person that we've got that's able to fight,
I wanna talk to them right now."
And so he kind of propped me up.
And so I said, "And I need a radio."
And so I said, "We're gonna establish a perimeter right here,
and you're gonna fight or die."
I was able to locate three strobe lights.
And so I told the medic sergeant,
I said, "I want those strobe lights put out
in a triangle to where they can see us.
And maybe we can call in air support around our position."
And so that's what we, in fact, did.
NARRATOR: After nearly four hours of intense combat
the strobe lights began to give out.
A group of Air Force aviators about 20 minutes from their position
volunteered to attempt a rescue.
But before they could arrive
Howard's group was hit with another massive attack.
The assault was so devastating
that Howard directed the next air strike
to hit his own position.
They brought the fire in on our position.
In fact, I remember fire landing right between my feet
and, you know, ricochets hitting me in the face, you know?
That's how intense it was.
And then all at once they had replaced the aircraft
and I could hear the helicopters coming in.
And I'm still communicating with the sergeant.
And I said, "You know, we might get out of here alive yet."
Actually, out of the 37
there were only
--live ones left when we got back that was all shot up,
there was only six of us.
And so...
that was
the way it happened.
I can remember the President walking up in front of me.
And he took the Medal of Honor in his hand.
And I can remember...
how decent his hands looked, and how it looked-- it was beautiful.
And then all at once he took it,
and he's putting it around my neck. And he's saying something.
And he said, "Captain Howard, are you okay?"
He said, "You're looking pale."
And I said, "Sir, I don't know if I'm gonna faint or not...
--I apologize for my looks,
but I think my heart stopped beating."
And he smiled. And I can remember
as he put it around my neck,
he let his cheek come over and hit me on the side of the face.
And he said, "This great country appreciates you, Bob."
It was so important because my father and all of my uncles
died as a result of their service during the Second World War.
And so when I received that honor,
I felt that I was sharing it
with members of my family that had sacrificed their lives.
And so I hold it very dear to my heart.