Fort Leonard Wood concluded its 250-mile Army birthday relay this morning with a 3-mile division-style run. More than 6,000 service members participated in the run in celebration of the Army's 250th birthday.
It was March 12, 1971, in northern Vietnam’s Quin Tri, when the gun truck, “Proud American,” was struck by two B40 shoulder-fired rockets, destroying the vehicle, killing the driver and wounding Spc. 4 Nelson Allen as well as the vehicle’s officer in charge.
Fifty-four years later, Maj. Gen. Christopher Beck, Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and Fort Leonard Wood commanding general, presented Allen with the Purple Heart Medal,...