I’m a major, retired.
I served 20 years in the service.
I was enlisted for six-and-a-half years.
So I had a diverse career, both enlisted and officer, and I was fortunate in being able
to get into the paratroopers at seventeen-and-a-half I was a paratrooper at seventeen.
I enlisted at seventeen and two days plus.
April 14th, 1972, the battle of Fire Support Base Charlie.
The lone American on the base, serving as a senior advisor to the Army of the Republic
of Vietnam, was Major John Duffy.
They called him "Dusty Cyanide." That was his call name.
They were dedicated. They were hard fighting.
They were all volunteers.
They believed in their mission.
They believed they were fighting for the freedom of their country.
And these were the elite.
So these were not what you would call a local force, even if it’s a division.
So you had the best of the best in Vietnam.
In those days, leading up to April 14th, the battalion command post had been destroyed.
Major Duffy had already been twice wounded, refusing evacuation. Efforts to resupply the base
had failed, and FSB Charlie was surrounded by a battalion-sized element.
For hours, American gunships guided by "Dusty Cyanide" took airstrikes on enemy positions.
Major Duffy repeatedly exposed himself to danger in order to direct the gunships’ fire and
keep the battalion from being overrun.
He even called in one strike, extreme-danger close to his own position
in order to drive back the advancing attack.
And when he was wounded again, he again refused evacuation.
He worked side-by-side to organize the defense of the base with the Vietnamese commander.
If they would have got through us, there was nothing, no combat troops behind us in
Kon Tum and Pleiku, the two central highland cities.
Their plan was to march through those cities rapidly.
They were bringing up tanks, they had tanks in the battle.
And then to go down and link up with the NVA troops that had already captured the coast.
So that was down Route 100, I think, where the French got wiped out back in the Indochina War.
And that link up would have cut the country in two.
When they finally had to abandon the base, Major Duffy volunteered to lead the rear squad
and cover their retreat.
And when the withdrawing soldiers were ambushed early on April 15th and many of the injured
troops scattered, Major Duffy remained with those who were wounded, rallying them to make
it to an established evacuation, despite being constantly pursued by the Viet Cong.
Upon reaching the exfiltration site, Major Duffy, again, made sure he was the last to
board the helicopter.
And when finally the airship was ready to depart, one of his Vietnamese allies was shot
in the foot, causing him to fall backwards, out of the helicopter.
But Major Duffy caught him, and dragged him back on board with him, saving one more life
along the way.
Major Duffy’s extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty
were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself,
his unit and the United States Army. Signed Joseph R. Biden, President of the United States.
(applause)
Valor, to me, is you have a duty, you volunteered. I was always in airborne and special ops,
and, if you’re a volunteer, your honor is committed to doing a duty.
And if you’re honor committed, you’re going to fight and do whatever’s necessary.
And, so for me, it was going to work.
Going up on Charlie, it was another day on the battlefield, doing what I was trained to do.