|
For Americans today is a special day of appreciation within a season of Thanksgiving. This Veterans Day also happens to fall in a year when the U.S. finally expressed appropriate gratitude for a patriot of exceptional bravery. In August Kasey Sheridan reported from Kentucky for Youngstown, Ohio’s WKBN: On Tuesday, local war hero Kenneth David was inducted into Fort Campbell’s prestigious Medal of Honor Rotunda… The rotunda is located in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Headquarters, located at Fort Campbell, Ky. David was the 22nd person to be inducted. Among the greatest of the Screaming Eagles, Mr. David attended the ceremony 56 years after he had first arrived at Fort Campbell to receive basic training. Just 19 at the time, he headed next to Fort Polk, La., for advanced training. Then he was off to Vietnam, arriving in January 1970. Within a few months he was performing acts of life-saving courage that somehow were largely overlooked for decades. In January of this year President
Joe Biden presented Mr. David with the Medal of Honor. The U.S. Army’s description of the relevant events makes one wonder why it took so long: Then-Pfc. Kenneth J. David distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty on May 7, 1970, while serving as a radio-telephone operator with Company D, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division, near Fire Support Base Maureen, Thua Thien Province, Republic of Vietnam.
|
