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Medal of Honor Recipient visits Bedford unit

Photo By Sgt. Rob Cooper | Medal of Honor Recipient Sammy Davis shows his Medal of Honor to 6-year-old Dean...... read more read more

BEDFORD, UNITED STATES

02.13.2010

Courtesy Story

Indiana National Guard Headquarters

By Sgt. Robert G. Cooper III

BEDFORD, Ind. - Medal of Honor Recipient Sammy Davis paid a visit to Soldiers from the 2219th Brigade Support Company, Indiana National Guard Feb. 13, at the Bedford National Guard Armory here. During his visit, Davis had the opportunity to speak with more than 100 Soldiers from the unit, who are preparing for deployment to Iraq in the future.

"There's nothing any better to boost morale than having a legend like him come to our little unit just to mingle with the troops," said Sgt. Ricky Stork, a fuel handler with the company.

A Vietnam veteran, Davis was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1968 for his actions during an intense mortar attack on him and his fellow Soldiers. Despite being injured, Davis managed to cross a river to rescue three other wounded Soldiers. Since then, Davis, a former Indiana native and graduate of Mooresville High School, has continued his service to his country by visiting and speaking with his fellow service members.

While visiting with the troops Saturday, Davis gave a lecture to members of the 2219th and spoke about lessons he learned from his deployment.

"I thought I knew what to expect," Davis said. "I saw the jungle in the movies, I'd been to basic training and all that, and I knew what I was supposed to do. But it didn't take me very long to figure out that I didn't know anything about anything. The more training you can consume and the more knowledge you have going into any situation in life, the better you should be able to react to it."

Davis also urged his fellow Soldiers to make the most of their deployment and not reflect on the negative aspects of it.

"As I see it, the purpose of life is to enjoy life," Davis said. "If you consume yourself with the task at hand, when you get old like me, you suddenly realize there were things in life you could have enjoyed but didn't. So I enjoyed life, because at the time when I was in Vietnam, I was not assured of tomorrow."

Pvt. Allyssa Masterson, the 2219th's newest Soldiers, was on hand to hear Davis' words and said she gained some peace of mind from his advice.

"I believe it makes you a little more at ease when you hear from somebody who's been deployed," Masterson said. "He reminded us that you're going to have to do it, so you might as well think positively about it, be grateful and enjoy what you're going to do because there's no reason to harbor the bad parts of deploying."

Col. Ivan Denton, the commander of the 219th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, was in attendance as well and said the unit itself gained some sage wisdom through Davis' speech. "I think it put the unit at ease a bit, especially when he spoke about enjoying," he said. "I can't imagine any of the Soldiers here that didn't flat out love this visit. It impacted training, but I think it impacted training in a very positive way."

During one part of his speech, Davis spoke about the trials of returning from Vietnam to face criticism from the American people. While waiting to fly home to Indiana, Davis said he was accosted by a group of anti-war demonstrators at an airport and forced to endure verbal and physical assaults by them. Despite the attacks that left he and his fellow Soldiers bloodied and bruised, Davis said not one of them lifted a finger to fight their fellow Americans.

"To think about how they were treated and how they took it upon themselves to make sure that future generations or warriors weren't treated that way meant a lot to me, and I think it meant a lot to the unit," Denton said. I think it instills a sense a pride and some humility about the way we're treated now, but I hope that the younger folks as they are around Vietnam veterans really thank them for all that they did. I don't think they can hear that enough."

Despite his place in history as an American hero, Davis remains humbled by the fact that each opportunity to speak with the next generation of service members is just his way of paying it forward.

"No matter how often I have the opportunity to speak to today's military, it always inspires me to see young men and women, who could be doing so many other things if they chose, chose to serve our nation," Davis said.